Before he sprinkled ashes on the heads of the faithful, as a sign of mortality, the pope said that the ashes could represent “the burden of a world in flames, of entire cities destroyed by war.”
He also told the faithful that the ashes can symbolize “the ashes of international law and justice among people, (and) the ashes of entire ecosystems.”
Lent is a period of 40 days of penance leading up to Easter, the most important Christian holiday, the day of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.
It represents the 40 days that Jesus, according to the Bible, spent fasting in the desert.
Leo, elected head of the 1.4 billion-member Catholic Church in May to succeed the late Pope Francis, did not mention any specific conflicts in his remarks.
In his first year as pontiff, the pope strongly condemned the world’s current wars and what he called a global “zeal for war” in a major foreign policy speech last month.
The Pope spoke on Wednesday at a mass held in the Basilica of Saint Sabina on the Aventine, which was preceded by prayers in a nearby church and a procession of cardinals and bishops.
(Vijesti.ba)
