Pope Francis, appearing fully recovered from a bout of bronchitis, has begun an intense four days leading to Easter urging priests to avoid fomenting division in the Catholic Church and washing the feet of inmates in a juvenile prison.
The pope, along with dozens of cardinals and bishops and about 1,800 priests, gathered in St Peter's Basilica for a Holy Thursday mass to renew the vows they took on their ordination.
Later he travelled to Casal del Marmo prison on Rome's outskirts, where he washed and kissed the feet of 12 young inmates in a gesture commemorating Jesus' humility towards his apostles on the night before his death.
It was the place where, shortly after his election in 2013, Pope Francis began holding the traditional event at jails, homes for the elderly and with the homeless instead of for priests in Rome's cathedrals as his predecessors had done.
He is also the first pope to include women and non-Catholics at the foot-washing service. One inmate at the service was a Muslim from Senegal. Two were women.
"Any of us can slip up," he told the inmates in a brief improvised homily.
The 86-year-old spent four days in hospital last week for treatment for bronchitis after complaining of breathing difficulties. He recovered quickly after antibiotics.
"Many times we priests are rude," the pope said in the homily at St Peter's Basilica.
People seeking spiritual peace and tranquillity in their lives would continue to keep their distance from the church, he said, and view it with suspicion if they see it bogged down in internal disunity, finger-pointing and being coldly judgmental.
Pope Francis said priests must seek harmony if they wanted to win back lapsed faithful.
Apart from an occasional cough during the nearly two-hour-long mass, the pope read his homily in a clear, strong voice for 20 minutes. He frequently went off script as he called on priests to stick to their calling as peacemakers and ministers of mercy.
He urged them not to live "double lives" or turn into bureaucrats seeking promotions with perks and privileges, and not yearn for a past when the church was more self-centred.
"Let's think of the gentleness of priests. If people see even us as people who are dissatisfied and discontented old bachelors who criticise and point fingers, where else will they find harmony?" he asked.
"How many people fail to approach us, or keep at a distance, because in the church they feel unwelcomed and unloved, regarded with suspicion and judged?"
The pope is due to preside at two services tomorrow - Good Friday - on the day that Christians commemorate the crucifixion, including a Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) service at Rome's Colosseum.
He will celebrate at an Easter VigilmMass on Saturday night and on Easter Sunday will deliver his twice-annual "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) blessing and message in St. Peter's Square.
