Vatican City, Mar 10, 2011 / 17:26 pm
All are called by God to return to him with their “whole heart,” said Pope Benedict XVI at a special celebration for Ash Wednesday.
The Pope led a procession across Rome's Aventine Hill for the first day of Lent. The celebration of the liturgy began at the St. Anselm's Church with members of the Benedictine order, cardinals, bishops and priests.
When they reached the singing of the litany of the saints, they began the procession that led them several hundred yards down the street to Dominican Minor Basilica of Saint Sabina. There, the Pope presided over the rest of the Mass.
Through the imposition of the ashes on the first day of Lent, “we undertake to convert our hearts to the horizons of grace,” the Pope said during his homily.