Pope Leo XIV revives the Holy Thursday foot-washing of priests after Francis's inclusive tradition

ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV washed the feet of 12 priests in the traditional Holy Thursday ritual, restoring a tradition his predecessor had broken by including laypeople and non-Christians in ceremonies at prisons, juvenile detention halls and centers for asylum-seekers.

The priests included 11 ordained by Leo last year, along with the Rev. Renzo Chiesa, the director of the Rome Diocese's primary seminary.

Leo poured water from a golden pitcher over the priests’ feet before drying them with a white cloth and bestowing a kiss, in what the pontiff in his homily called a “gratuitous and humble gesture" that demonstrates “the true omnipotence of God.’’

“Indeed, through this act, Jesus purifies not only our image of God – from the idolatry and blasphemy that have distorted it – but also our image of humanity,’’ Leo said in his homily inside the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, the official ecclesiastical seat of the pope as the bishop of Rome.

“For we tend to consider ourselves powerful when we dominate, victorious when we destroy our equals, great when we are feared,” said the pontiff, who has been outspoken against war. “In contrast, as true God and true man, Christ offers us the example of self-giving, service and love.”

The Holy Thursday foot-washing ceremony is a hallmark of every Holy Week and recalls the foot-washing Jesus performed on his 12 apostles at The Last Supper together before he was crucified.

Francis revolutionized the ritual for the Vatican by insisting, from his first Holy Thursday as pope in 2013, that it include women and people of other faiths among the 12. Previously, popes performed the ritual on Catholic men only at the Rome basilica.

Leo’s decision to restore the prominent place of priests during the ritual is both a return to tradition and a gesture consistent with what seems to be his effort to encourage Catholic clergy and reinforce his appreciation of their service.

Pope Francis often criticized priests and what he called the “clerical” culture that places priests on a pedestal, above the laity. Francis believed such an attitude was responsible for the abuses of power and authority epitomized by the clergy sexual abuse crisis.

Leo, though, has spoken out about the need to protect priests' rights. He devoted his April prayer intentions to priests in crisis, those who have lost hope because of loneliness, exhaustion or doubt.

“Let them feel they are not mere functionaries or lonely heroes, but beloved sons, humble and cherished disciples, and pastors sustained by the prayer of their people,” Leo said in the prayer intentions released this week by the Vatican.

He asked for God to teach the faithful to care for their priests, “to listen without judging, to give thanks without demanding perfection,” and accompany them with prayer.

Pope Leo XIV presides over the Missa in Caena Domini, the Mass of the Lord's Supper, on Catholic Holy Thursday in St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV washes and kisses the feet of 12 Roman priests during the Missa in Caena Domini, the Mass of the Lord's Supper, on Catholic Holy Thursday in St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV presides over the Missa in Caena Domini, the Mass of the Lord's Supper, on Catholic Holy Thursday in St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV washes and kisses the feet of 12 Roman priests during the Missa in Caena Domini, the Mass of the Lord's Supper, on Catholic Holy Thursday in St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV washes and kisses the feet of 12 Roman priests during the Missa in Caena Domini, the Mass of the Lord's Supper, on Catholic Holy Thursday in St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday that Pam Bondi is out as his attorney general, ending the contentious tenure of a loyalist who upended the Justice Department’s culture of independence from the White House, oversaw large-scale firings of career employees and moved aggressively to investigate the Republican president’s perceived enemies.

The announcement follows months of scrutiny over the Justice Department’s handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking investigation that made Bondi the target of angry conservatives even with her close relationship with Trump. She also struggled to satisfy Trump’s demands to prosecute his political rivals, with multiple investigations rejected by judges or grand juries or yet to produce charges.

Trump named Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as the acting attorney general, though three people familiar with the matter have said he has privately discussed Lee Zeldin, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, as a permanent pick.

Bondi, a former Florida attorney general, came into office last year pledging that she would not play politics with the Justice Department, but she quickly started investigations of Trump foes, sparking an outcry that the law enforcement agency was being wielded as a tool of revenge to advance the president’s political and personal agenda.

She ushered in a period of intense turmoil at the department that included the firings of career prosecutors deemed insufficiently loyal to Trump and the resignations of hundreds of other employees. Her departure continues a trend of Justice Department upheaval that has defined Trump’s presidency as multiple attorneys general across his two terms have either been pushed out or resigned after proving unwilling or unable to meet his demands for the position.

Bondi rejected accusations that she politicized the Justice Department and said her mission was to restore the institution’s credibility after overreach by President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration with two federal criminal cases against Trump. Bondi’s defenders have said she worked to refocus the department to better tackle illegal immigration and violent crime and brought much-needed change to an agency they believe unfairly targeted conservatives.

Bondi’s public embrace of the president, however, marked a sharp departure from her predecessors, who generally took pains to maintain an arm’s-length distance from the White House to protect the impartiality of investigations and prosecutions. Bondi postured herself as Trump’s chief supporter and protector, praising and defending him in congressional hearings and placing a banner with his face on the exterior of Justice Department headquarters.

She called for an end to the “weaponization” of law enforcement she said occurred under the Biden administration, even though Biden’s attorney general, Merrick Garland, and Jack Smith, the special counsel who produced two cases against Trump, have said they followed the facts, the evidence and the law in their decision-making. Bondi’s critics, meanwhile, said she was the one who had politicized the agency to do the president’s bidding.

“You’ve turned the People’s Department of Justice into Trump’s instrument of revenge,” Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary committee, said at a February hearing.

Bondi delivered a combative performance but few substantive answers at that hearing as she angrily insulted her Democratic questioners with name-calling, praised Trump over the performance of the stock market — “The Dow is up over 50,000 right now” —- and openly aligned herself as in sync with a president whom she painted as a victim of past impeachments and investigations.

Even Republicans began to challenge her, with the Republican-led House Oversight Committee last month issuing a subpoena to her to appear for a closed-door interview about the Epstein files.

Under Bondi’s leadership, the department opened investigations into a string of Trump foes, including Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, New York Attorney General Letitia James, former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan. The high-profile prosecutions of Comey and James were short-lived as they were quickly thrown out by a judge who ruled that the prosecutor who brought the cases was illegally appointed.

Trump repeatedly publicly praised and defended Bondi but also showed flashes of impatience with his attorney general’s efforts to meet his demands to prosecute his rivals. In one extraordinary social media post last year, Trump called on Bondi to move quickly to prosecute his foes, including James and Comey, telling her: “We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility.”

Bondi oversaw the exodus of thousands of career employees — both through firings and voluntary departures — including lawyers who prosecuted violent attacks on police at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021; environmental, civil rights and ethics enforcers; counterterrorism prosecutors; and others.

She struggled to overcome early stumbles over the Epstein files that angered conservatives eager for government bombshells about the case, which has long fascinated conspiracy theorists. She herself had fed the conspiracy theory machine with a suggestion in a 2025 Fox News Channel interview that Epstein’s “client list” was sitting on her desk for review. The department later acknowledged that no such document exists.

Bondi was ridiculed over a move to hand out binders of Epstein files to conservative influencers at the White House only for it to be later revealed that the documents included no new revelations. And despite promises that more files were going to become public, the Justice Department in July said no more would be released, prompting Congress to pass a bill to force the agency to do so.

The Epstein files fumbles led to a stunning public criticism from White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, a close friend of Bondi’s, who told Vanity Fair that the attorney general “completely whiffed.” The Justice Department’s release of millions of pages of Epstein files did little to tamp down criticism, prompting a House committee with the support of five Republicans to subpoena Bondi to answer questions under oath.

Bondi, who defended Trump during his first impeachment trial, was his second choice to lead the Justice Department, picked for the role after former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida withdrew his name from consideration amid scrutiny over sex trafficking allegations.

President Donald Trump speaks with Attorney General Pam Bondi during a roundtable discussion on public safety at a Tennessee Air National Guard Base, Monday, March 23, 2026, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Attorney General Pam Bondi arrives before President Donald Trump speaks about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)

President Donald Trump participates in a roundtable discussion on public safety at a Tennessee Air National Guard Base, Monday, March 23, 2026, in Memphis, Tenn., with Attorney General Pam Bondi, right. (AP Photo/Bruce Newman)

Attorney General Pam Bondi listens during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Thursday, March 26, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump walks from the Blue Room to speak about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)