Pope Francis visited a refugee centre and washed and kissed the feet of Muslim, Orthodox, Hindu and Catholic refugees, as a gesture of welcome at a time when anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiment has risen, especially after the deadly attackes in Brussels and Paris.

Francis chose this year to celebrate the traditional Easter Week foot-washing ceremony at a refugee shelter in Castelnuovo di Porto, located outside Rome.

About 892 asylum seekers welcomed Francis with a banner reading “Welcome” in a variety of languages, while the ceremony attended by other people, too, who filmed the event on their smartphones.

The Holy Thursday rite re-enacts the foot-washing ritual that Jesus performed on his 12 apostles before being crucified, showing a gesture of service.

For decades, Vatican used to call only men to participate in the ritual, and past popes and many priests traditionally performed it on 12 Catholic men. But, Francis in January changed the regulations and allowed women and girls to participate.

For this year’s ritual, the Vatican said that four women and eight men had been selected. The women include an Italian who works at the centre and three Eritrean Coptic Christian migrants. The men include four Catholics from Nigeria, three Muslims from Mali, Syria and Pakistan, and a Hindu from India.

Several of the migrants wept as Francis knelt before them, poured holy water from a brass pitcher over their feet, wiped them clean and kissed them.

“We have different cultures and religions, but we are brothers and we want to live in peace,” pope Francis said adding:

“All of us, together: Muslims, Hindi, Catholics, Copts, Evangelicals. But brothers, children of the same God,” he said. “We want to live in peace, integrated.”