People all around the world have been considering Pope Francis’s role as head of the Catholic Church and the choices he took while in that position since it was announced that he had passed away on Easter Monday.
Pope Francis was renowned for his progressive reforms and for taking a stand on a variety of issues that were occasionally viewed as contentious. He was selected to the position in 2013.
Pope Francis made news last year, for instance, when he cleaned the feet of twelve women in a Rome prison.
During the ritual, which is held on the Thursday before Easter, he made the initial decision to wash exclusively women’s feet.
Throughout the years, Pope Francis has also bathed the feet of homeless people, convicts, refugees, and individuals with impairments. But Pope Francis’ predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, first only cleaned men’s feet before limiting it to priests.
When he was elected pope, Pope Francis broke with precedent by allowing women to participate in the rite.
The Roman Catholic Church observes Maundy Thursday, the day before Good Friday, as a time to wash their feet.
Britannica claims that it was first used by the early Christian church to mimic Jesus’ unselfish love when he bathed his followers’ feet the night before he was crucified, during the Last Supper.
“In 2016 Pope Francis changed the Roman Missal to permit the washing of the feet of women and himself washed the feet of migrant men and women from a variety of faiths for that year’s Maundy Thursday service at an asylum centre outside Rome,” according to the website.
“Monarchs or members of the royal family offered presents and washed the feet of the impoverished on Maundy Thursday in a number of European nations. After the Reformation, the royal practice was briefly maintained in England before being discontinued by the Church of England in 1754.
Although the identity of Pope Francis’ successor is unknown, the voting process, known as a papal conclave, is expected to last 15 to 20 days.
A select group of more than 200 senior cardinals appointed by succeeding popes, the College of Cardinals, will make the decision. They will cast their votes four times a day until a candidate obtains a significant two-thirds of the vote.
And even though the crucial role has no legal age restriction, one thing is for sure: a man must play it.
Pietro Parolin, 70, of Italy, who was Francis’s personal friend, is regarded as a leading candidate. He is dependable and trustworthy, having served as the Vatican’s secretary of state since Francis’ election in 2013.
When making decisions, Luis Antonio Tagle, 67, of the Philippines, is also expected to be given careful consideration. He was previously the archbishop of Manila, and if elected, he would become the first Asian pope.
Another candidate is 76-year-old Peter Turkson of Ghana, who would be the first Black pope in decades.
