Rome, March 1 (IANS/AKI) Pope Francis presided over a ceremony on Rome's Aventine Hill Wednesday to mark the start of the 40-day Christian fasting period of Lent.
The traditional Ash Wednesday celebration began in the nineteenth-century Basilica of St Anselmo at 4.30 p.m. with a brief prayer.
The celebration was due to end with a mass the ancient Basilica of St. Sabina and a reflection on the spirit of Lent, a time of conversion and penance which leads up to Easter.
Catholic cardinals, bishops, Benedictine monks and Dominican friars attended the ceremony.
"Lent is a new beginning, a path leading to the certain goal of Easter, Christ's victory over death," Francis tweeted earlier on Wednesday from his nine-language @pontifex account.
Traditionally the pope walks on foot up a steep slope to get from one basilica to another.
The fifth-century Basilica of St. Sabina is the headquarters of the Dominicans, the order founded by Saint Dominic of Guzman in the 13th century.
(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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