Don't You Know Who I AM????

Sure! You are Pope Francis! And you're washing that woman's feet last Maundy Thursday!

So what? Here's Father Z's take:


In the Roman Rite, the washing of feet on Holy Thursday is an option.  It may be left out without disturbing the integrity of the Holy Thursday Mass of the Last Supper (otherwise, it wouldn’t be a legitimate option).
Watch now as all sorts of people demand that bishops and priests violate the law because of what His Holiness Pope Francis did last year and plans to do this year.  Watch as all manner of clerics hide behind the Pope when they choose openly to break the law and violate their promise to uphold the Church’s laws.
The problem with that is, liturgical law is real law.  It must be obeyed.

 The Church’s liturgical law is not ambiguous: only males can be chosen for this optional rite, and they should be men: viri selecti.  Vir means “man”.   Vir cannot, period, mean a female.  And despite what Facebook says, there are two sexes, not dozens.  Also, you really don’t get to choose which you are.  Vir is male.
 
Also, lest it go unsaid, I am not speciesist, but the Church still limits this foot-washing rite to human beings.
Next, the Pope, who is the Church’s Legislator, can do A, B or C as it pleaseth him to do.  If he wants to set aside the law, so be it.
The rest of us, however, are obliged, to obey the law.  The ordained made promises at ordination to obey the Church’s laws.