“Today, I join Christians worldwide in observing Ash Wednesday,” Biden wrote on Twitter. “The Lenten season is a time for reflection and discernment and an opportunity to recommit ourselves to God and to one another.”

History and Ash Wednesday illustrate a mutual truth: Ideas are much easier to suggest than to suppress.

Each Ash Wednesday, our pews are overflowing. How can we turn our Lenten promises into a dialogue with those who might not usually attend Mass outside of this day?

What book will you pick up this Lent? America editors have never been shy about making recommendations on this topic, and over the years, various contributors have also given suggestions on everything from Scripture to novels to devotional reading and more.

Mardi Gras is not only Catholic, it’s French, Creole, African-American, African and Native American. And there are layers to this ornate carnival that reveal a powerful history of Black joy, resistance and rebellion.

In his Lenten message for 2023, Pope Francis compares the ongoing synodal process to the strenuous mountain trek embarked in the Gospel of Transfiguration, with what awaits us at the end better revealing God's will and our mission to the church.