Pope Francis will wash the feet of twelve young refugees on Holy Thursday, re-enacting a rite Jesus performed on his apostles before being crucified.

Francis will travel to the Centre for Asylum Seekers (CARA) in Castelnuovo di Porto, north of Rome, where he will deliver Mass and wash the feet of refugees, sending a message that we must respect each refugee as an individual.

The Vatican has not confirmed whether the refugees will be Catholic, however a Vatican official, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, noted that most of the centre's residents are not.

"We can understand the symbolic value intended by Pope Francis' visit to the CARA in Castelnuovo di Porto and his bending down to wash the feet of refugees," Fisichella said.

"His actions mean to tell us that it is important to pay due attention to the weakest in the historic moment; that we are all called to restore their dignity without resorting to subterfuge.

"We are urged to look forward to Easter with the eyes of those who make of their faith a life lived in service to those whose faces bear signs of suffering and violence."

That the refugees are likely not to be Catholic is particularly significant.

"It points to respect as the royal road to peace," Fisichella said. "Respect means being aware that there is another person beside me. A person who walks with me, suffers with me, rejoices with me. A person whom, one day, I may one day lean on for support.

"By washing the feet of refugees, Pope Francis implores respect for each one of them."

Just weeks after becoming pope, Francis broke tradition in washing the feet of women, Orthodox Christians and Muslims in a juvenile detention facilitiy. The Vatican previously restricted the feet washing ceremony to men, and popes have historically performed the rite on 12 Catholic men, recalling Jesus' twelve apostles. However, in January this year, Francis changed the regulations to explicitly allow women and girls to participate in the rite.