This year Pope Francis washed the feet of 12 young refugees. Traditionally, Popes would wash the feet of 12 Catholic men, but Francis has broken with tradition. The first year of his papacy he outraged some conservatives by choosing to wash the feet of criminals, women, and Muslims.

The choice of refugees is deliberate. Francis is trying to make the point that we are called to serve the weakest members of society who, right now, are refugees. It's a commendable gesture that has made news but you may wonder: How did a spa treatment become first a religious ritual and then a political statement?

The basis for washing feet on Holy Thursday is the account of the Last Supper. According to the Gospels, Jesus washed the feet of the disciples before his final meal with them. At the time, the disciples were debating their relative position in the kingdom of heaven.

By taking on the role of a servant and washing the feet of his followers, Jesus was highlighting their pride. It was a subversive act that threw shade on the apostles' ambitions. It was absorbed into Christian ritual almost immediately, being incorporated into baptismal practice across the empire from the second century onwards.

And, in the 16th century, radical reforming Protestants tried to re-create the faith of the apostolic era by reintroducing foot washing into their daily lives. Continue reading

• Candida Moss is professor of New Testament and early Christianity at the University of Notre Dame and an award-winning author of five books. The article above is from The Daily Beast.

He attracted global media attention when, on his first Holy Thursday as pope, he washed the feet of men and women at a juvenile detention centre on the outskirts of Rome. Then at the beginning of this year he issued new rules governing the foot-washing rite, insisting that it should not be restricted to men.

The Pope's guidance will be put into effect around the world for the first time next week. It is therefore a good time to take stock of the practice, its origins and background, and to reflect on what is has to offer us today as disciples.

If you lived in the hot, dusty world of sandals before asphalt roads, when animals provided the only motive power other than your own feet, there would be nothing so welcoming after even a short journey than a chance to wash your feet.

Given that such a journey is always hard on the legs and back, an even better welcome would be if you could sit down and have someone wash your feet for you.

The literature of antiquity abounds with references to foot-washing, but it is enough to mention two examples.

In Genesis 18 we have the story of the wondrous visit of the Lord, in the form of three men, to Abraham at Mamre. The first sign of welcome is that Abraham arranges for the visitors' feet to be washed. The other example is from the Rule of St Benedict on the welcome to be shown to guests. When travellers arrive at Benedictine monasteries they are to be given water to wash their hands, and the abbot and some of the community are to wash the guests' feet. Continue reading

• Thomas O'Loughlin is the author of Washing Feet: Imitating the Example of Jesus in the Liturgy Today (Liturgical Press).