Pope Francis had in January, 2016 issued a decree revising the rules for the traditional ritual of feet-washing on Maundy Thursday saying it need not be limited to men and boys but might include women and girls. However, the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church of Kerala does not see the need of extending the Papal proposal to the Holy Thursday rite in its churches.

As per a circular issued by Major Archbishop Mar George Cardinal Alencherry, Major Archbishop of the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese, priests need to wash the feet of only men and boys in the same way as the ritual was being held on Maundy Thursday that commemorates the last Supper all these years.

According to the circular, it has been clarified that the Papal decree is applicable only to the latin Catholic Church and not to the Syro-Malabar Church as the proposal was to make changes in the rubrics of the Roman Missal, the central collection of prayers and other texts for use in Catholic worship.

The practice proposed in the Papal decree need not be applicable to the Eastern Churches, Cardinal Alencherry’s circular said and the ritual in the churches under the Syro-Malabar Catholic churches would include only men and boys this Maundy Thursday, the Thursday that falls before the Easter Sunday, also.

The feet-washing ceremony is held in churches across the world on Maundy Thursday in memory of Jesus Christ washing the feet of his 12 disciples. In the January 6, 2016 decree, Pope Francis had said that men, women, youth, the healthy, the sick, the elderly, nuns, priests, etc could be included in the ritual.

Cardinal Alencherry’s circular made it clear that only the feet of 12 men need to be washed in the churches under the Archdiocese on Maundy Thursday as the Eastern Churches are permitted to follow their long tradition. Though the circular is meant for the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese, it could be extended to other dioceses in Kerala in the coming days.

Following the Papal decree, several latin Catholic churches in Kerala had included women in the feet-washing ritual on Maundy Thursday last year. “Rites and rituals may undergo changes as per the changing times. There are several examples. Also, this is not a very big issue. It is a matter of the spirit for inclusion,” said a senior priest of the latin Catholic Church.

The Pope had issued the decree extending feet-washing ceremony to women and girls by changing a tradition that had existed for almost two millennia. However, a Syro-Malabar Church synod had rejected the proposal, sources said. Priests say that the feet-washing ritual has a particular place in the worship system of Eastern Churches and this cannot be changed abruptly.

Though the issue is related to a Papal decree and the suitability of it for the Catholic and Orthodox churches here, many in the Catholic laity in Kerala say that the top clergy’s approach to it is also a reflection of its consideration for women. A demand had come up from the laity recently for allowing nuns to hear the confessions of women.

The demand was put forward to the authorities of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church by the Catholic Reformation Movement, an outfit that claims to stand for reforms in the Church, which even held a sit-in to press it. However, the Church authorities rejected the demand saying that it was contradictory to the sacrament of confession itself as nuns were not ordained priests.