Pope Francis marked Ash Wednesday on his 20th day in Rome’s Gemelli hospital by taking part in the rite of the blessing of the ashes and receiving them in a short prayer service, the Vatican said.

Lent marks a call to live out God’s love by supporting those in desperate need across the globe, said Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace.

Pope Francis has expressed his gratitude for the outpouring of prayers from all over the world, said Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, who has visited the pope twice in the hospital.

The Supreme Court on March 5 rejected the Trump administration’s request to freeze nearly $2 billion in foreign aid payments, directing the White House to abide by a lower court order. Catholic nongovernmental organizations are among those impacted by the freeze.

The journey of Lent “unfolds amid the remembrance of our fragility and the hope that, at the end of the road, the Risen Lord is waiting for us,” Pope Francis wrote in his homily for Ash Wednesday.

Aid to the Church in Need’s call to the faithful to reflect this Lenten season on the persecution of Christians has taken on more urgency with the news that a Nigerian priest was found murdered on Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent.

Despite her distress at losing the 12-year-old Jesus, Mary’s search for her son is a model of every Christian’s journey to deepen their relationship with Christ, Pope Francis said in a prepared message.

The Polish prelate, who heads the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Service of Charity, is the pope’s point man for distributing alms to the poor and needy — those that Francis put at the center of his papacy. Cardinal Krajewski led the rosary March 2.

President Donald Trump touted the “swift and unrelenting action” taken by his second administration in its first six weeks, telling lawmakers March 4 in an address to a joint session of Congress he was “just getting started.”

The best medicine to heal the pain of a wounded family is forgiveness, Pope Francis said.