Overview
- Clergy placed ashes—often from last year’s Palm Sunday palms—on worshippers’ foreheads with the words “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return” or “Repent and believe in the Gospel.”
- Roman Catholics ages 18 to 59 observe a required fast on Ash Wednesday with one full meal and two smaller meals, and those 14 and older abstain from meat, with similar Lenten abstinence on Fridays.
- Services ran throughout the day across cities such as Hyderabad and Austin, where Cardinal Poola Anthony presided at St. Mary’s Basilica and many churches also offered drive‑through or commuter‑station ash distribution.
- Pope Leo was set to lead his first Ash Wednesday liturgy in Rome, including the traditional Aventine Hill procession and the imposition of ashes on attendees.
- Lent’s timing is tied to Easter, with Western Easter on April 5, 2026, while the Eastern Orthodox begin Great Lent on Feb. 23 and celebrate Easter on April 12.