[WATCH] Pope Francis washes feet of Muslim, Christian, Hindu refugees

Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of Muslim, Catholic, Orthodox and Hindu refugees at an asylum centre in Rome on Maundy Thursday.

The Pope knelt before a group of eight men and four women, before kissing and washing their feet.

The refugees who participated in the ritual included three Coptic Christians, four Nigerian Catholics, three Muslims from Syria, Mali and Pakistan, an Indian Hindu, and an Italian who works at the centre. Several of them reportedly wept as Francis knelt before them, poured water from a brass pitcher over their feet, wiped them clean and kissed them.

“All of us together: Muslims, Hindus, Catholics, Copts, Evangelicals…all brothers and children of the same God,” he said. “We want to live together in peace.”

He condemned Tuesday’s Brussels attacks as an “act of war, of destruction…by people who do not want to live in peace”.

The pontiff was greeted at the asylum centre with a banner reading “Welcome” in several languages as he walked across a makeshift aisle to celebrate the outdoor Mass.

A fraction of the 892 asylum seekers living at the shelter attended the mass, but several more milled around nearby and filmed the event on their phones.

Vatican rules had long called for only men to participate in the annual Maundy Thursday and previous popes had traditionally performed the ritual on 12 Catholic men, recalling Jesus’ 12 apostles.

However, after years of violating the rules, Francis in January changed the regulations to explicitly allow women and girls to take part.