This is a photo collection curated by AP photo editors.
A devotee with an ash cross on her forehead prays during Ash Wednesday rites March 5, 2025 at the Redemptorist Church in Manila, Philippines as Catholics in this predominantly Roman Catholic nation observe the start of lent. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
- AF
A devotee with an ash cross on her forehead lights candles during Ash Wednesday rites March 5, 2025 at the Redemptorist Church in Manila, Philippines as Catholics in the this predominantly Roman Catholic nation observe the start of lent. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
- AF
A devotee is marked with an ash cross on her the forehead during Ash Wednesday rites March 5, 2025 at the Redemptorist Church in Manila, Philippines as Catholics in the this predominantly Roman Catholic nation observe the start of lent. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
- AF
A devotee with an ash cross on her the forehead lights candles during Ash Wednesday rites March 5, 2025 at the Redemptorist Church in Manila, Philippines as Catholics in the this predominantly Roman Catholic nation observe the start of lent. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
- AF
A man burns old palm fronds to be used for Ash Wednesday rites at the Our Lady of Consolation Parish in Quezon city, Philippines on Tuesday, March 4, 2025 as Catholics prepare for the start of lent in this largely Roman Catholic nation. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
- AF
Boniface Ugwo, a Catholic priest rubs the sign of the cross with ash on the forehead of worshipers on Ash Wednesday at the St Francis Catholic Church in Lagos, Nigeria, Wednesday, March 5, 2025.(AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)
- SA
A man prays outside a church before Ash Wednesday Mass in Bogota, Colombia, Wednesday, March 5, 2025. Ash Wednesday for Catholics worldwide ushers in a period of penitence and reflection, known as the season of Lent, that leads up to Easter Sunday. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
- FV
Flint Powers Catholic sophomore Aliyah Rose, 15 at center, prays with her classmates after receiving the ash cross on her forehead along with hundreds of students during an Ash Wednesday service at Flint Powers Catholic High School, Wednesday, March 5, 2025, in Flint, Mich. (Jake May/MLive.com/The Flint Journal via AP)
Cardinal Major Penitentiary Angelo De Donatis, left, sprinkles ashes over the head of a cardinal during the first mass of Lent on Ash Wednesday in Santa Sabina Basilica in Rome, Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
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