Ahead of this year's Ash Wednesday on 17 February, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has released a note specifying the procedures priests around the world are to follow for the distribution of ashes at the start of Lent.
The new guideline is consequent upon health situation caused by Covid-19 which has continued to force changes on daily life and reflected in the Church’s sphere.
According to the instructions, after blessing the ashes and sprinkling them with holy water in silence, the priest addresses those present, reciting once the formula found in the Roman Missal: “Repent, and believe in the Gospel” or “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return”.
At that point, the note continues, the priest “cleanses his hands, puts on a face mask, and distributes ashes to those who come to him or, if appropriate, he goes to those who are standing in their places.”
He then sprinkles the ashes on each person’s head “without saying anything.”
The Congregation asks priests to take special anti-COVID-19 precautions this year when distributing ashes on Ash Wednesday, including sprinkling ashes on the top of people's heads rather than using them to make a cross on people's foreheads.
The congregation's note on the "distribution of ashes in time of pandemic" directs priests to say "the prayer for blessing the ashes" and then sprinkle "the ashes with holy water, without saying anything."
"Then he addresses all those present and only once," says the formula, "as it appears in the Roman Missal, applying it to all in general: 'Repent and believe in the Gospel' or 'Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.'"
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