What Ash Wednesday can teach journalists about truth and humility
Pope Leo XIV’s Lenten message on listening, language and community offers a timely framework for ethics in a noisy, polarized media environment
Ash Wednesday begins with a fact.
“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Growing up, hearing that phrase in church felt heavy in a way I didn’t yet understand. Today, as a faithful Catholic and journalist, it feels simple, clarifying and honest.
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a season marked by repentance, fasting, reflection and, on Easter Sunday, a celebration of Jesus’ resurrection. In church, a priest traces a small cross of ashes on your forehead and repeats that same reminder about dust.
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