The Ash Wednesday Mass took place at 10 a.m. in Warsaw’s Marriott Hotel, where Joe Biden stayed during his trip to the Polish capital, Poland's PAP news agency reported.
The service was celebrated by a Polish priest, Father Wiesław Dawidowski, it said.
The US president said in a tweet on Wednesday: “Today, I join Christians worldwide in observing Ash Wednesday. The Lenten season is a time for reflection and discernment and an opportunity to recommit ourselves to God and to one another.”
He added: “May we continue to keep the faith and look with hopeful hearts towards Easter.”
'I had the honour today of placing ashes on the forehead of the US president'
Fr. Dawidowski, an Augustinian, shared photos of the Ash Wednesday Mass with Biden on his Facebook, and wrote: “Today is Ash Wednesday. Even the most powerful in this world take ashes — if they belong to the Catholic tradition.”
He added: “I had the honour today of placing ashes on the forehead of the US president, Mr. Joe Biden.”
'We prayed for peace, the conversion of Russia'
Dawidowski revealed: “Everything took place in great secrecy, but now I can speak: in an improvised chapel, next to the President’s apartment, we prayed for peace, the conversion of Russia and the light of the Holy Spirit for Mr. President.”
Dawidowski said Biden thanked him for the Mass and added that he had never missed an Ash Wednesday service, the PAP news agency reported.
Biden said that if he missed an Ash Wednesday Mass, his mother in heaven would probably be upset, Dawidowski added.
“These words show that Joe Biden doesn’t take himself too seriously, but also that he is very serious about his faith,” the priest told PAP.
He said he had spoken to the US president for about 10 minutes.
'I met a man who is very concerned about the fate of the world'
“It was a very private conversation. I can only say that I met a man who is very concerned about the fate of the world. He knows his limitations, but he is also aware of the role he has to play in history and he wants to use it for the benefit of people,” Dawidowski stated.
Dawidowski was a member of Poland’s anti-communist movement before 1989. During the time of martial law in communist Poland in the early 1980s, he was arrested and sentenced to six months in prison, the PAP news agency reported.
Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting observed by Roman Catholics, among many other Western Christian denominations.
It falls on the first day of Lent, the six-week period of penitence before Easter. In Poland, ashes are sprinkled over one’s head to mark the occasion.
Biden flew back to America on Wednesday afternoon, following a two-day visit to Poland that included bilateral talks with the Polish head of state, a major address to the Polish people outside Warsaw’s Royal Castle, and an appearance at a summit of the Bucharest Nine group of eastern-flank NATO allies.
The US president came to Poland following a surprise visit to Kyiv, days before the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Thursday is day 365 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, Catholic Review
