Pope Leo on Ash Wednesday: 'Call death for what it is'

Basilica of St Sabina Ash Weds. @Vatican Media

Source: Vatican Media

Pope Leo presided over Ash Wednesday Mass in Rome's Basilica of Saint Sabina last night.

In his reflection he said the ashes the attendees were about to receive on their forehands, remind us of "the weight of a world that is ablaze, of entire cities destroyed by war." The state of the world, Pope Leo stressed, asks us on this Ash Wednesday "to call death for what it is, and to carry its marks within us".

Pope Leo said the 40 days of Lent are, "a powerful time for community". While community is increasingly rare, he said, Lent gathers people together, as "a community of witnesses that recognises their sins".

These sins, Pope Leo stressed, are both personal and communal. Sin "afflicts our hearts, and exists within us". At the same time, however, it takes place within broader "structures of sin", which can be "economic, cultural, political and even religious" in nature.

Lent, Pope Leo underlined, means "daring to be free" of all this, through repentance and change.

In today's secular age, the Pope said, this message is especially attractive, particularly to young people. The young, he suggested, understand particularly clearly that "there should be accountability for wrongdoings in the Church and in the world".

Rather than seeing Lent as a private devotion, therefore, the Pope said, Christians should search for ways to introduce it to "the many restless people of good will" who are seeking "authentic ways to renew their lives.

Watch the Ash Wednesday procession and Mass: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYC-xCcsxeM

Read Pope Leo's full homily: www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/homilies/2026/documents/20260218-ceneri.html