PHOTO GALLERY: Pope washes, kisses feet of Christians and elderly Muslim

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Pope Francis kneels to wash the foot of a man at the Don Gnocchi Foundation Center in Rome, Thursday, April 17, 2014 (Photo: AP)

In this picture made available by the Vatican newspaper L' Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis washes the foot of a man at the Don Gnocchi Foundation Center in Rome, Thursday, April 17, 2014 (Photo: AP)

In this picture made available by the Vatican newspaper L' Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis washes the foot of a woman at the Don Gnocchi Foundation Center in Rome, Thursday, April 17, 2014 (Photo: AP)

In this picture made available by the Vatican newspaper L' Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis kisses the foot of a man at the Don Gnocchi Foundation Center in Rome, Thursday, April 17, 2014 (Photo: AP)

In this picture made available by the Vatican newspaper L' Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis kisses the foot of a woman at the Don Gnocchi Foundation Center in Rome, Thursday, April 17, 2014 (Photo: AP)

Pope Francis washes the foot of a disabled person at the S. Maria della Provvidenza church in Rome, during Holy Thursday celebration, April 17, 2014 (Photo: Reuters)

Pope Francis washes a foot of a disabled person at the S. Maria della Provvidenza church in Rome, during the Holy Thursday celebration, April 17, 2014 (Photo: Reuters)

Pope Francis, center, kneels to wash the feet of a man at the Don Gnocchi Foundation Center in Rome, Thursday, April 17, 2014 (Photo: AP)

Pope Francis kisses a foot of a disabled person at the S. Maria della Provvidenza church in Rome, during the Holy Thursday celebration, April 17, 2014 (Photo: Reuters)

The 77-year-old bent down with difficulty to wash and kiss the feet of the nine Italians and three foreigners aged between 16 and 86 years old at the Don Carlo Gnocchi foundation's Santa Maria della Provvidenza centre.

Among the others was 75-year-old Hamed, a Libyan Muslim who worked for years for the Italian-Arab chamber of commerce, before a road accident left him with serious neurological damage.