Colombia’s top Catholic official, Bogotá’s Archbishop Luis José Rueda Aparicio, marked Holy Thursday by washing the feet of transgender women and sex workers in the capital, in a gesture aimed at promoting the inclusion of marginalized communities.
Rueda carried out the ritual in the Santa Fe neighborhood, a central red-light area known as a “tolerance zone.” The ceremony was one of the Church’s Holy Week observances and drew community leaders, social organizations and local residents.
The washing of feet is a central rite of Holy Thursday (also known as Maundy Thursday), commemorating the biblical account of Jesus washing the feet of his apostles during the Last Supper. The act symbolizes humility, service and care for others, particularly the most vulnerable.
Rueda kneeled before participants to echo this tradition for the second year in a row. Last April, he performed a similar ceremony paying tribute to Sara Millerey, a trans woman murdered in Medellín earlier that year.
“May no one feel rejected, may no one feel excluded,” Rueda said during the mass he directed prior to the rite. In a statement for Noticias Uno, he added that “what societies do through discrimination is fracture”.
Some participants described the moment as deeply meaningful.
Valentina Rojas, a transgender woman who took part, said she felt “happy” and “loved” after the ceremony.
The gesture comes amid ongoing tensions within the global Catholic Church over LGBTQ+ rights.
Pope Leo XIV has recently reiterated that Church teachings on sexuality and marriage are unlikely to shift in the near term, describing such issues as “highly polarizing.”
Although he has emphasized that all individuals are welcome in the Church, he has ruled out immediate doctrinal changes regarding same-sex relationships or transgender identity.
Featured image: Luis José Rueda
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
