Instead of ash being wiped to mark crosses on foreheads, ash was sprinkled on the crown of the heads of the faithful. The Catholic hierarchy in 20 modified the Ash Wednesday rites due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We have been reminded last year that this option is an ‘opportunity to catechize our people on both the penitential and baptismal characters of the Lenten season,” it added. “The sprinkling of ashes on the crown will remain an option. “The formula for the imposition of ashes ‘Repent, and believe in the Gospel,’ or ‘Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return’ is said only once ‘applying it to all in general.’ We will revert to the imposition of ashes on the forehead of the faithful,” the guideline stated, which was signed by CBCP Episcopal Commission on Liturgy Chairman Bishop Victor Bendico. The sprinkling of ash remained an option. In a set of guidelines released on Saturday, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said it would revert to the practice of religious placing ash on foreheads amid the COVID-19 pandemic. For the first time in two years, the Catholic faithful in the Philippines will be allowed to receive ash crosses on their foreheads to mark the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday, March 2.
