Pope Leo XIV led a solemn penitential procession 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. Source: OSV News.
Priests, bishops and cardinals chanted the Litany of the Saints as the procession wound from the Benedictine Basilica of Sant’Anselmo to the ancient Dominican Basilica of Santa Sabina, where the Pope offered Ash Wednesday Mass.
“How rare it is to find adults who repent — individuals, businesses and institutions that admit they have done wrong,” Pope Leo said in his homily in the Basilica of Santa Sabina.
“Indeed, during Lent, a people is formed that recognises its sins. These sins are evils that have not come from supposed enemies, but afflicts our hearts, and exist within us. We need to respond by courageously accepting responsibility for them,” he added.
Pope Leo acknowledged that “this attitude is countercultural,” but it “constitutes an authentic, honest and attractive option, especially in our times, when it is so easy to feel powerless in the face of a world that is in flames.”
In his homily, the Pope pointed to young people as an unexpected sign of openness today.
“Even in secularised contexts, many young people, more than in the past, are open to the invitation of Ash Wednesday,” Pope Leo said.
“Young people especially understand clearly that it is possible to live a just lifestyle, and that there should be accountability for wrongdoings in the Church and in the world.”
He called on the faithful to “embrace the missionary significance of Lent,” not as a distraction from personal conversion, but “in a way that introduces this season to the many restless people of good will who are seeking authentic ways to renew their lives, within the context of the Kingdom of God and his justice.”
Pope Leo received ashes sprinkled atop his head in the Italian custom before imposing them on the cardinals and some of the faithful present.
“We perceive in the ashes imposed on us the weight of a world that is ablaze, of entire cities destroyed by war,” he said.
“This is also reflected in the ashes of international law and justice among peoples, the ashes of entire ecosystems and harmony among peoples, the ashes of critical thinking and ancient local wisdom, the ashes of that sense of the sacred that dwells in every creature,” Pope Leo added.
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Pope Leo XIV calls for ‘countercultural’ repentance on first Ash Wednesday of his pontificate (By Courtney Mares, OSV News)
