I guess most of the readers of this commentary do not know whom I refer to. But rest assured that Malta has its 13th apostle and that she is from Spain. The media did not report about her. Unfortunately in our society if you are not on the media you do not exist!

But let me first give you some background.

The Easter Triduum starts with the evening Mass on Maundy Thursday which is characterised by the ceremony of the washing of the feet of 12 men. Church law is very specific: men only. Church law in its generosity gives one an option: the washing of the feet can be left out if twelve men cannot be found to participate.

Then there came Pope Francis and things started to change.

A couple of days after his installation as Pope he opted to celebrate Mass at a drug rehabilitation centre, Casal del Marmo. Pope Francis washed the feet of 10 young men and two young women during the Mass of the Lord’s Supper.

Pope Francis’s decision to wash the feet of two women was welcomed by many and abhorred by others. Some asked whether the Pope is above Church law. How dare he do this, others noted. The Catholic conservative blogs smelled a whiff of heresy. If the Pope washed the feet of females can a simple parish priest do the same? Is this a one off symbolic act or is this the beginning of a trend?

Maltese parish priest raised the matter during their meetings. They were advised that the men only rule applied. They should wait and see what the Pope does would on the second year of his pontificate. Caution was the action proposed.

Then in 2014, Pope Francis visited the center “Don Gnocchi” for the elderly and disabled. On that occasion, the participants in the foot-washing ritual ranged in age from 16 to 86, and there were women as well as men.

Maltese parish priests raised the matter once more. More caution was proposed. The Maltese Curia does not rush in where popes dare to go.

Then on this Maundy Thursday two events happened contemporaneously.

Pope Francis once again celebrated the Holy Thursday Mass of the Last Supper at the chapel of Rome’s Rebibbia prison. He washed the feet of 12 inmates equally divided between men and women.

In Malta, Archbishop Scicluna gave a radically different twist to the ceremony. He asked for 12 ‘apostles’ coming from different institutions: politics, the Curia, the media, the police, health and palliative services. He wanted to give an important signal: the Church is at the service of these institutions that should also provide genuine service to the whole community.

The media gave us photos and footage of the occasion with an emphasis on the washing of the feet of politicians. They missed the most important news point of the occasion; a unique event and a first for the new Archbishop.

A Spanish woman asked the Archbishop for his blessing. He went off script and washed her feet instead. The 13th apostle was ‘anointed’.

Now that the Archbishop followed in the footsteps of the Pope one guesses can one expect that the parish priests could would follow suit? Such a step would show that the washing of the feet is not mainly an enactment of something that happened two thousand years ago. It should be a moment when the Church symbolically expresses her mission of service to all, not just to men. It should also provide all lay Catholics with a stimulus so that they would also live their mission of service in their secular activities.