FOLLOWING Pope Francis’ lead, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle on washed not the feet of select male-only “apostles” on Maundy Thursday, but of the suffering and marginalized, including Fr. Teresito Soganub, the priest hostaged by Islamic State-linked terrorists in Marawi last year.

HOLY WEEK RITE Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle kisses the feet of Fr. Teresito “Chito” Soganub at the Manila Cathedral. PHOTO BY ANDREA DE LA CRUZ

“Chito” Soganub turned emotional as the cardinal, also nicknamed “Chito,” poured water on his right foot, dried it with a towel, and kissed it, a ritual commemorating the Washing of the Feet of the 12 Apostles by Jesus Christ during the Last Supper, a symbol of servant leadership.

Pope Francis shocked Catholic traditionalists in 2013 when he washed and kissed the feet of young women and Muslims in a juvenile detention center in Rome, in an early signal of a revolutionary papacy from the first Jesuit and Latin American pontiff.

Popes have never kissed the feet of women, much less those of non-Catholics, during the Maundy Thursday ritual, in accordance with the rubrics of the Roman Missal.

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Francis struck out the strict requirement in 2016, allowing priests all over the world to wash the feet of a more representative group of the “People of God,” especially the marginalized, the poor, the sick, the elderly and the imprisoned, for “pastoral reasons.”

At the packed Manila Cathedral for the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper, Cardinal Tagle washed the feet of displaced Lumad leaders Isidro Indao and Kaylo Bontolan, as well as Crisanto and Eva Demafelis, parents of Joanna Demafelis, the overseas worker whose dead body was found in a freezer in Kuwait.

Also, foreigners Irfan Masih and Shazia Irfan, who fled religious persecution; Danilo and Janet Pelayo and daughter Danica, who were resettled to Cabuyao, Laguna from their slum community in Manila; and Giovanni and Yolicres Badidles, both Navy personnel.

Tagle urged the faithful to heed Pope Francis’ call to accompany those who have been displaced. “Share the journey of many people scattered all over the world, displaced, who have left everything to find new life but then they are vulnerable, taken advantage of, smuggled, trafficked, sold to slavery, sold to prostitution,” the prelate said in his homily.

Leaving one’s self

Service, he explained, means departure from oneself, citing as an example the departure of OFWs as a sign of love for their families, which is similar to Christ’s love for his disciples.

“The 12 people whose feet we will wash have their own stories of departure. The parents of our sister who left to work abroad, killed and stuffed in a freezer. We have with us today a couple from the Navy, who often leave each other to go to their assigned posts — how do they keep their love for each other as husband and wife?” Tagle said in Filipino.

“We also have with us people who left and were trapped abroad in conflict, persecution...they are back in the Philippines and looking for a new life. We have with us a family who lived on the railroad tracks who left for a resettlement area and are looking for a decent life. We have with us indigenous peoples, who had to leave because of the destruction of their environment, because their lands were stolen and because of violence. They are looking for peace,” Tagle said.

“And we have a priest from Marawi who was hostaged for more than a hundred days, but until now his heart belongs to the community he has chosen to serve and to our brethren of a different faith,” he said, referring to Soganub.

It was a coming back to the fold of sorts for Soganub, who concelebrated the Mass with Tagle at the cathedral.

During his 116-day captivity, Soganub appeared in Maute propaganda videos and was even rumored to have converted to Islam. In a recent news conference, the Marawi priest admitted to gathering gunpowder from the terrorists’ bombs, so the Maute men would spare his life.

“I was leaning on the fact that, perhaps, it was the time that the Lord wanted me to join the Sorrowful Mystery,” said Soganub during the news conference, referring to the five mysteries of the rosary recalling Christ’s passion and death.

Power-hungry leaders

Tagle pointed out that while there were a lot of Filipinos leaving everyday and willing to sacrifice for the sake of their families, there were also “people in power” who refuse to step down and will “do everything to remain in power.”

He noted that Jesus, the Son of God, chose to become man to save the people.

“Those who are not willing to cross over or journey, or those who do not want to leave themselves, do not know how to love. Loving is a never-ending act of leaving,” he said.

“But the problem is, instead of giving them respect they are being taken advantage of. That is not what Christ wants us to do” he said.

WITH WILLIAM B. DEPASUPIL, JAE ALDE, MIA MACATIAG AND ALEC NALDO