Catholics going to Mass on Ash Wednesday will leave church marked, but whether the ashes appear as a bold cross on the forehead or sprinkled atop the head depends largely on where in the world they worship.

A newly released clerical sexual abuse report in Poland’s Diocese of Sosnowiec is being described by investigators as a necessary step toward accountability, while Church leaders call it a painful but essential moment in rebuilding trust after years of scandals.

Why do so many people make an extra effort to get to church on Ash Wednesday — the first of Lent’s 40 days — when it is not a holy day of obligation, and they are not required to receive ashes?

Data showing most individuals in immigration detention do not have violent criminal records highlights ongoing concerns expressed by the nation’s Catholic bishops over the Trump administration immigration crackdown, said an official with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, strongly criticized the U.S.-led Board of Peace, an international body chaired by President Donald Trump to oversee the governance and reconstruction of Gaza.

Msgr. Figueiredo was able to arrange for the group to receive an audience with Pope Leo and to have their school be named during the ceremony.

Since 1991, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has held an annual Collection for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe, with funds supporting the Catholic Church in the former Czechoslovakia, Soviet Union and Yugoslavia — a total of 28 current nations.

Supporters of the traditional Latin Mass have urged Catholics not to confuse their movement with the more controversial Society of St. Pius X, commonly referred to as SSPX, whose leaders currently risk excommunication by threatening to ordain their own bishops.

An authentic Christian community knows how to sincerely and joyfully welcome everyone: Catholics, non-Catholics and people of no faith at all, Pope Leo XIV said.

A federal district judge granted a preliminary injunction Feb. 12 that will allow clergy, religious and Catholic social justice advocates to enter a Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility west of Chicago on Ash Wednesday to provide ashes and holy Communion.