Pope Leo XIV, leads prayers inside St. Anselm Church earlier than taking part in a penitential procession marking the beginning of the Catholic Lent, to the Basilica of Santa Sabina in Rome, on February 18, 2026, the place he’ll preside over Ash Wednesday Mass.
| Picture Credit score: AP
Pope Leo lamented a world “in flames” on account of wars and the destruction of the setting throughout an Ash Wednesday Mass, opening the season of Lent for the world’s Christians.
Earlier than sprinkling ashes on the heads of members, an indication of mortality, the pope mentioned the ashes might symbolize “the load of a world that’s ablaze, of complete cities destroyed by struggle”.
He additionally advised members the ashes might signify “the ashes of worldwide legislation and justice amongst peoples, (and) the ashes of complete ecosystems”.
“It’s so simple to really feel powerless within the face of a world that’s in flames,” mentioned Leo, the primary U.S. Pope.
Lent is a 40-day interval of penance that results in Easter, crucial Christian vacation, which celebrates the day on which believers say Jesus rose from the useless.
It represents the 40 days Jesus is alleged within the Bible to have spent fasting within the desert. In the course of the season, Catholics are requested to quick, keep in mind the needy and replicate on mortality.
Pope Leo, elected chief of the 1.4-billion-member Church in Might to interchange the late Pope Francis, didn’t point out a particular battle in his remarks. The pope has forcefully decried the world’s ongoing wars in his first yr and denounced what he known as a worldwide “zeal for struggle” in a serious international coverage speech final month.
He spoke on Wednesday (February 18, 2026) at a service held within the Basilica of Santa Sabina on Rome’s Aventine Hill, preceded by prayers in a close-by church and a procession of cardinals and bishops.
Revealed – February 18, 2026 10:22 pm IST