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Carole Mikita ReportingMillions of Catholic faithful the world over are marking this as a holy day. Pope Benedict XVI led mass this evening in Vatican City. He blessed each priest with the sign of the cross made with ashes. The priests, in turn, did the same for the many in attendance.
Thousands of Catholic faithful here in Utah went to services throughout the day, beginning this morning. At Blessed Sacrament in Sandy, many schoolchildren received the mark of the ashes, along with their parents and teachers. This signifies the beginning of Lent, a traditional time of sacrifice for 40 days, ending with the celebration of Easter.
Tom Squires, Bountiful Resident: "We take the palm leaves from palm Sunday and we mark a cross on it. 'From dust thou was made, from dust thou shalt return.'"
Clare Summerhill,West Jordan Resident: "Easter is so much more incredible if, having gone through a time of introspection and looking at your life and getting ready to accept that brand new life that Easter brings."
Quite a few people spent their lunch hour today at the Cathedral of the Madeleine for mass. This is the first Easter season in eleven years that members of the Salt Lake Diocese are without their former Bishop George Niederauer.
He, of course, is the new Archbishop of San Francisco. Members of this diocese will probably wait another six months before they have a new bishop.
