U.S. President Joe Biden attended a private mass to commemorate Ash Wednesday at an improvised chapel next to the Presidential suite in the Marriott hotel in Warsaw.
The service was given by a Polish priest, Fr. Wiesław Dawidowski, who wrote of the experience in a social media post.
“Today is Ash Wednesday. Even the great and the good of this world receive ash if they belong to the Catholic tradition. I had the honor to place ash on the head of the President of the USA, Joe Biden,” Dawidowski wrote on Facebook.
He also revealed the mass was dedicated to “peace, redemption for Russia, and for the blessing of the Holy Ghost for the U.S. President.”
President Biden himself confirmed his attendance at the mass in a Twitter post.
Catholics in the USA have ash placed on their foreheads on Ash Wednesday, rather than on their hair, as is the case in Poland. This is why an ash mark was clearly visible on the President’s forehead during the summit later in the day.
Ash Wednesday is the day on which the period of Lent begins leading up to Easter. It is a period of 40 days, excluding Sundays, on which Catholics follow the path of redemption, penitence and change of heart. This is in spiritual preparation for Easter. Ash in the Christian tradition is a symbol of the impermanence and fragility of human existence and an expression of sorrow and penitence.
