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Pope Francis' footwashing ritual was polysemous.

Giving cover to the liberals is the biggest fallout and most problematic IMO. Yes, i see that the gesture was one of service and not ordination. Yes, i see that it can be considered pharisaical and overly legalistic to put rubrics and canon law over a gesture of loving service. But, as in anything, disregarding the rules and rubrics and just going with the flow, promotes chaos.

Liberals will find it far easier than conservatives to claim that Francis’ actions are endorsements of their liberal thing. Remember this: Liberals could give a damn about the gender of the person whose feet are being washed. Their focus is really the gender of the one doing the washing. Liturgical liberals are included in this. They only care about the washing of the feet of women, because ultimately they want women to do the washing. This is about the ordination of women, not about their feet. Before these liberals start taking their victory laps, I would remind them that Francis is not going to touch doctrine. He has clearly talked about the Devil. He has spoken clearly before his election about same-sex stuff as discrimination against children. He has firmly fought Liberation Theology. What liberals forget in their present crowing is that even as Francis makes himself – and the Church – more popular by projecting a compassionate image, he will simultaneously make it harder for them to criticize him when he reaffirms the doctrinal points they want him to overturn.

from your comments on yesterday's thread, i know you are looking at this just as neutral observers of a simple act. The point is not that he washed the feet of girls, or Muslims, or muslim girls, so much as it is a flouting of a rule [yes the current practice dates from 1955, Dave, but it was the revival of an ancient practice, which only included men]. those of us who live in novus ordo parishes, and shudder at Masses with liturgical DANCE, rock and roll masses, and all sorts of other leftwing Catholic HOOHAW, know what the logical extension of rule-flouting is. A protestant is never going to get what the issue here is, because things are far different in their churches. Liturgical abuse has been a problem in the Catholic church since Vat2 gone wild. Benedict was getting that back under control in many respects, and people were grateful for it. this has many fearful that the free-for-all will be back on. it could have been mitigated had the Pope changed the rule/rubric prior to his footwashing ritual.

i wish i had been aware of the controversy on Holy Thursday prior to Mass. Father Claudio mentioned something when we were in the sacristy getting ready for Mass about the Pope "washed EVERYBODY's feet today." I didn't understand the significance of that statement at the time bc i wasn't aware of what he had done and what the implications were.

You said it yourself. At the price of a re-imaginig of a ritual, Francis has made earned the Church a good image and made it a bit more popular.

It doesn’t mean we have to ordain women next. A does not have to follow B.

I see it like my pastor talked about Saturday night. Francis wants all of us in the Church to show Christ through our actions. Mother Teresa didn’t care if she helped Christian or Hindi.

By going out to the world and showing the desire to serve all, he makes a real statement.