“From dust you are and to dust you shall return.” This is the biblical passage that frames the moment you now see: Pope Leo XIV receiving ashes for the first time since the start of his papacy. This act symbolizes his human fragility, even as the successor of the Apostle Peter.
It was one of the more powerful moments of the Lenten ceremony held on Ash Wednesday at the Basilica of Santa Sabina, which is located on the Aventine Hill, one of the seven ancient hills of Rome.
The rite of the imposition of ashes reminds the faithful of each person's human mortality as well as the need for conversion, serving as a moving call to penance and spiritual renewal.
