Tag: Ash Wednesday

Beneath the Roman pines of the Aventine Hill, Pope Leo XIV led a solemn penitential procession 18 February to Rome's oldest extant basilica, marking the first Ash Wednesday of his pontificate with a call for "countercultural" repentance for sins from individuals, institutions and the Church itself.

On Ash Wednesday, Pope Leo XIV encouraged Catholics to ask the Lord for "the gift of true conversion" at the start of the 40-day penitential season of Lent.

Catholics going to Mass on Ash Wednesday will leave church marked, but whether the ashes appear as a bold cross on the forehead or sprinkled atop the head depends largely on where in the world they worship.

An annual collection taken up by the US Catholic bishops on Ash Wednesday for well over 30 years has been giving hope to Catholics still emerging from the ravages of atheistic communism in Central and Eastern Europe.

Why do so many people make an extra effort to get to church on Ash Wednesday – the first of Lent's 40 days – when it is not a holy day of obligation, and they are not required to receive ashes?

Ash Wednesday saw hundreds of the faithful gather at St Mary’s Cathedral to contemplate their faith and personal devotion at the beginning of Lent for 2025. 

The journey of Lent "unfolds amid the remembrance of our fragility and the hope that, at the end of the road, the Risen Lord is waiting for us," Pope Francis wrote in his homily for Ash Wednesday.

Pope Francis marked Ash Wednesday on his 20th day in Rome's Gemelli hospital by taking part in the rite of the blessing of the ashes and receiving them in a short prayer service, the Vatican said.

While Pope Francis' condition has continued to improve, the Vatican announced that he will not lead his traditional Ash Wednesday services in Rome 5 March.

Thousands of Catholics visited Sydney’s CBD churches on Ash Wednesday. The renewed their faith for many different reasons, but all left with the ashes that mark them as Christ’s disciples

Archbishop Fisher: Prayer, fasting and almsgiving are three gifts, wrapped in purple, that show the magnitude of God's love for his creation

Lent is an opportunity to drop habits that don't serve God In the Maronite Church, Lent is a nautical expedition. It begins on Cana Sunday...