Pope's point man for charity urges world not to forget homeless in vaccination push
- Jan 21, 2021
The Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments asked priests to take special anti-COVID-19 precautions this year when distributing ashes on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 17, including sprinkling ashes on the top of people’s heads rather than using them to make a cross on people’s foreheads.
ROME—Beginning the 40-day season of Lent, Pope Francis on Wednesday said this is a time to remember the lives “reduced to ashes” through war and indifference. He also said that this is not a time for “useless sermons” but to recognize that, although nothing but dust, we are “loved by
Lent is a time to remove all distractions and bitterness from one’s life in order to better hear God and those who suffer silently and need help, Pope Francis said.
This week several major Italian dioceses have canceled Ash Wednesday services and suspended public Masses amid growing alarm over the spread of the novel coronavirus in Italy, which at the heart of the worst outbreak in Europe.
Lent is the season of self-honesty. It’s a time when we can put away the masks and bring down the facades. Lent opens a forum where we can admit to ourselves, and to those around us, that we are sinners and in need of divine help.
A Utah teacher on administrative leave apologized Monday for making 9-year-old Catholic student William McLeod wash off the Ash Wednesday cross from his forehead, saying it was a misunderstanding.