In a first, Catholic priests in Mumbai wash women's feet

Maundy Thursday, the day marked in the Catholic calendar as one in which a priest washes the feet of 12 men, saw a break in the tradition. For the first time, women were also selected in almost all the parishes across the city, where the priests washed their feet.

The day is observed every year as the day when Jesus Christ had the last supper with the apostles, as described in the canonical gospels. It is on this day that he the washes feet of his disciples.

The washing of women's feet comes after the Pope did the same last year, when he went to a juvenile home. Women activists in the community have sought, for years, that greater rights be given to them. The symbolic washing of feet and women being made priests were among them. "From over 120 churches across the city, we got the news that over 100 had priests washing feet of women," said Nigel Barrett, spokesperson of the Archdiocese of Bombay.