Daily Mail

After a hectic first two weeks in charge of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis could be forgiven for wanting to rest and go for a lie down.

The pontiff did just that today, but his horizontal position was adopted during a Good Friday service in the Vatican.

Presiding over his first Easter week as pope, the former Archbishop of Buenos Aires lay prostrate, praying to God before the famous church’s alter atop a rug with his arms resting on a pillow.

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Worship: Pope Francis prays in front of the alter at Saint Peter’s Basilica during a Good Friday service

Prayer: The pontiff led the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion in the Vatican

Holy Week: Francis lay prostrate, praying to God before the famous church’s alter atop a rug and with his arms resting on a pillow

To his feet: The 76-year-old is helped to his feet during the service, which is his first as pope

The position of worship was adopted as he led the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion in Saint Peter’s Basilica.

Francis will later lead a candlelit procession around the Colosseum as part of the Way of the Cross ceremony.

The symbolic walk around one of Rome’s most well-known landmarks, commemorates Jesus’s final walk through the streets of Jerusalem while carrying the cross.

After being elected as pontiff following a secret conclave in the Vatican City earlier this month, Pope Francis has garnered attention for his humility and willingness to break from tradition.

Yesterday he visited a prison to wash and kiss the feet of convicted criminals.

He held a major Easter Week service at Casal del Marmo young offenders’ prison in Rome – the first Holy Thursday service outside St Peter’s Basilica or the Basilica of Saint John Lateran.

Papa robes: Pope Francis will later lead a candlelit procession around Rome’s Colleseum

History: This was the former Archbishop of Buenos Aires’s first Holy Week as head of the Catholic Church

Humble: Pope Francis has garnered attention for his humility and willingness to break from tradition

Speaking to 50 inmates, he said: ‘I’m happy to be with you. Don’t give up hope.’

The foot washing on Maundy Thursday echoes a New Testament passage in which Jesus honours his 12 disciples before his Crucifixion.

Francis has carried out similar ceremonies in Argentinian jails.

In a first for a Pope, he also attended to the feet of two woman prisoners. Several of the 12 were also Muslim.

Pope Francis already has officials on the back foot with his lack of regard for protocol.

He has insisted he will not live in the lavish Papal apartment, a 12-room property on the top floor of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace.

On seeing the apartment, he said: ‘But there is room for 300 people in here.’

Instead, Pope Francis has chosen a modest two-bedroom hotel-style residence at the Domus Santa Marta building.

Tradition: Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of inmates at a young offenders prison in Rome

Ritual: The Pope kisses the feet of one of twelve prisoners during the Holy Thursday ritual

The pontiff has also signalled that he wants to lead the church in a direction that priorises care for the most disadvantaged in society.

At a mass in St Peter’s Basilica yesterday, he told priests: ‘We need to go out… to the outskirts where there is suffering, bloodshed, blindness that longs for sight, and prisoners in thrall to many evil masters.’

Those who do not, he said, ‘become merely dealers in antiques and collectibles, instead of pastors, ending up dissatisfied and sad’.

His first papal Holy Week will culminate with an Easter Sunday ‘Urbi et Orbi’ – an address to the City of Rome and the world.

Thousands of Catholics are expected to flock to St. Peter’s Square for the first Jesuit and South American pope’s address.

Smiling: Pope Francis waves to priests displaying a smile during a Holy Thursday mass yesterday

Tradition: Newly-appointed Pope Francis begun the Christian traditions leading up to Easter during his first holy week as pontiff

Thoughtful: Pope Benedict XVI looks deep in prayer during the Thursday Mass inside St Peter’s Basilica

Categories: Christianity in the news

Tags: Good Friday, pope frances