Previous popes would carry out the foot-washing ritual on Holy Thursday in Rome's grand St.
It said that Pope Francis would also celebrate Mass earlier on Holy Thursday in St Peter's Basilica.
BBC: Pope Francis to wash feet of prisoners in pre-Easter Mass
Pope Francis earned his good-guy moniker by breaking tradition and visiting a juvenile detention center for Holy Thursday.
FORBES: 'Good Guy Pope' Meme on Reddit is a Win for Pope Francis
During a Holy Thursday ritual, he bathed the feet of 12 prisoners, including women and Muslims, in a juvenile detention facility.
He ended his sometimes somber, sometimes jocular remarks at the Holy Thursday Mass with what he said was his message for God.
"The official end of the reform of the reform by example, " "Rorate Caeli" lamented in its report on Francis' Holy Thursday ritual.
As a young man, he studied medicine at the Santa Maria Nuova Hospital in Florence, but was dismissed for drinking wine before taking communion on Holy Thursday.
The act of foot-washing at the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday is part of the Christian tradition that mirrors Jesus' washing of his disciples' feet.
Instead of washing priests' feet in a symbolic gesture of humility on Holy Thursday, Francis will wash the feet of young inmates at a juvenile detention center in Rome.
Three days ago, on Holy Thursday, he went to a youth detention center in Rome -- rather than the city's chief cathedral -- and washed the feet of a dozen young detainees.
"If someone is washing the feet of any females ... he is in violation of the Holy Thursday rubrics, " Peters wrote in a 2006 article that he reposted earlier this month on his blog.
"The pope's washing the feet of women is hugely significant because including women in this part of the Holy Thursday Mass has been frowned on and even banned in some dioceses, " said the Rev.
Instead, as Pope Francis, will celebrate Mass on Holy Thursday in St Peter's Basilica, and will wash the feet of prisoners in a youth detention centre in Rome, continuing a pre-Easter practice he began while archbishop of Buenos Aires.
"When Jesus washed the feet of those who were with him on the first Holy Thursday, he desired to teach all a lesson about the meaning of service, using a gesture that included all members of the community, " the office said in a statement.
To have excluded the young women from the ritual washing of feet ... would have detracted our attention from the essence of the Holy Thursday gospel, and the very beautiful and simple gesture of a father who desired to embrace those who were on the fringes of society.
Francis' decision to disregard church law and wash the feet of two girls a Serbian Muslim and an Italian Catholic during a Holy Thursday ritual has become something of the final straw, evidence that Francis has little or no interest in one of the key priorities of Benedict's papacy: reviving the pre-Vatican II traditions of the Catholic Church.
Thursday morning's business included reports on the financial state of the Holy See, Lombardi said.
CNN: Abuse victims' group names preferred picks for new pope
应用推荐