Pope Francis urged Catholics to renounce worldly trappings and focus on the essentials as he opened the season of Lent with the traditional Ash Wednesday Mass on one of Rome's seven historic hills.
He criticized the tendency of people to expose their lives on social media, deploring “a world in which everything, including our deepest emotions and feelings, needs to become 'social'”.
Instead, the faithful must enter their “inner chamber” to find time for silent reflection and prayer, the 87-year-old pontiff said in a homily.
Lent is a 40-day period of penance leading up to Easter, the most important Christian festival that celebrates the day Christians believe Jesus rose from the dead.
It represents the 40 days that, according to the Bible, Jesus spent fasting in the desert. During this time, Catholics are invited to fast, remember those in need, and reflect on mortality.
“Life is not a play: Lent invites us to step down from the stage and return to the heart, to the reality of who we are,” said Francisco.
“Let us not be afraid to strip ourselves of worldly trappings and return to the heart, to what is essential.”
He spoke at a service held in the Basilica of Santa Sabina on Rome's Aventine Hill, preceded by prayers in a nearby church and a procession of cardinals and bishops.
Mass attendees, including the pope, had ashes sprinkled on their heads in the Ash Wednesday ritual that, for the world's more than 1.35 billion Catholics, serves as a reminder of mortality.
Source: CNN Brasil
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