Previously the Vatican rules for the Holy Thursday ritual only allowed men to participate in the rite.
Traditional Popes have performed the ritual on 12 Christian men to represent the 12 disciples of Jesus.
However, after his election, Pope Francis performed the process on both men and women, Christian and Muslim, at a prison.
The Vatican has now published a decree announcing that the ritual can be performed on anyone "chosen from among the people of God" and it makes no reference to gender or religion.
