Images: Ash Wednesday Around the World
A man genuflects at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Ash Wednesday, March 5, 2014, in New York. Some Protestant, and all Catholic churches, distribute ashes on the forehead as a sign of repentance and renewal on Ash Wednesday.
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Pope Francis walks in procession with other prelates at the Santa Sabina Basilica for an Ash Wednesday prayer service.
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Pope Francis celebrates the Ash Wednesday mass at the Santa Sabina Basilica in Rome.
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A crucifix stands behind Baltimore Archbishop William Lori as he delivers a homily during an Ash Wednesday Mass in Baltimore.
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Ashes received from a priest mark the forehead of a parishioner during an Ash Wednesday Mass in Baltimore.
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Baltimore Archbishop William Lori proceeds into the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary for an Ash Wednesday Mass in Baltimore.
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Rev. Tom Rafferty leads communion during an Ash Wednesday service at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in The Woodlands, Texas.
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Students hold up paper crosses during an Ash Wednesday Mass at Santa Margarita Catholic High School on Wednesday, March 5, 2014, in Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.
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Rev. Chris Dreisbach holds a bowl of ashes outside Old St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Baltimore while he waits to offer them to passers-by as part of an "ashes to go" program.
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Pope Francis is sprinkled with ashes during the Ash Wednesday mass at the Santa Sabina Basilica in Rome.
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Pope Francis leaves after celebrating the Ash Wednesday mass at the Santa Sabina Basilica in Rome.
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Catholic priest Jesus Cardona places ashes in the shape of a cross on the forehead of a woman traveling by bus in Bogota, Colombia. Cardona, 39, walked through the neighborhood of his church the morning of Ash Wednesday to offer blessings to commuters.
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Pastor Frank Espegren places ashes on the forehead of a reluctant Aden Norega, 3, who was held by his father, Roberto Norega, outside the St. John's Lutheran Church in Sacramento, Calif.
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A woman prays as she participates in an Ash Wednesday Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia.
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Archbishop of Philadelphia Charles Chaput has ash on a placed on his forehead during an Ash Wednesday Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia.
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The Rev. Gordon Reid with Saint Clement's Episcopal Church, places ash on a worshiper's forehead on Ash Wednesday at the corner of Chestnut and 19th Streets in Philadelphia.
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The Rev. Gordon Reid, center, with Saint Clement's Episcopal Church, accompanied by Curt Mangel, left, and Daniel Craig, center right, places ash on a worshiper's forehead on Ash Wednesday at the corner of Chestnut and 19th Streets in Philadelphia.
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The Rev. Gordon Reid, with Saint Clement's Episcopal Church, waits to place ash on worshipers' foreheads on Ash Wednesday at the corner of Chestnut and 19th Streets in Philadelphia.
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Catholic Priest Alvaro Morea walks through his church's neighborhood to offer Ash Wednesday blessings in Bogota, Colombia, Wednesday, March 5, 2014. Morea, 42, offered commuters a cross of ash on their foreheads.
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Monsignor Anthony Rosaforte, Rector of the Cathedral of St. Patrick in Norwich, Conn., and Catherine Reed, Principal at St. Patrick Cathedral School, perform the imposition of ashes Wednesday, March 5, 2014, at the Cathedral of St. Patrick in Norwich, Conn.
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Jane Morosky, right, performs the imposition of the ashes for students from St. Patrick Cathedral School Wednesday, March 5, 2014 at the Cathedral of St. Patrick in Norwich, Conn.
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Barbara Warner of Flint, the reader and eucharistic minister at St. Mary's, prays after communion during an Ash Wednesday service on Wednesday, March 5, 2014, at St. Mary's Church in Flint, Mich.
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Rev. Herbert Kiff, of Mater Dolores Catholic Church, holds the hand of Bill Aiklen, 87, after giving him ashes and the anointment of the sick at the John J. Hainkel Rehabilitation Center on Ash Wednesday.His daughter did not expect him to last through the day.
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Rev. Herbert Kiff, of Mater Dolores Catholic Church, gives ashes and the anointment of the sick to Bill Aiklen, 87, at the John J. Hainkel Rehabilitation Center on Ash Wednesday in New Orleans. His daughter did not expect him to last through the day
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