US President Joe Biden attended a Catholic Mass marking Ash Wednesday during his visit to Poland, during which he prayed for peace, the White House said on Wednesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd February, 2023) US President Joe Biden attended a Catholic Mass marking Ash Wednesday during his visit to Poland, during which he prayed for peace, the White House said on Wednesday.
Biden celebrated Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent in some branches of Christianity, alongside Polish priest Wieslaw Dawidowski, the White House said in a pool report.
"I had the honor today of placing ashes on the forehead of the US President Mr. Joe Biden. Everything took place in great secrecy, but now I can speak: in an improvised chapel, next to the President's apartment. We prayed for peace, the conversion of Russia and the light of the Holy Spirit for Mr. President," Dawidowski said in a statement, as quoted by the White House.
Observers of Ash Wednesday often receive ash marked in a cross on their forehead, tied to the biblical notion that man both comes from and returns to dust.
Even the "most powerful" people in the world take ashes if they belong to the Catholic tradition, Dawidowski said.
Dawidowski is an Augustinian, doctor of theology and publicist, the White House said.
Biden has since departed Poland, where he met with NATO eastern flank allies and delivered a speech on continued US support for Ukraine on the eve of the one-year anniversary of Russia's special military operation.
