PHOTOS: Ash Wednesday around the world

A Roman Catholic priest uses ash to mark a cross on the forehead of a faithful during the Ash Wednesday mass at the Holy Family minor basilica parish in Kenya's capital Nairobi, Feb. 13. Catholics around the world celebrated Ash Wednesday, which serves as a reminder that "as a man is dust, so unto dust he shall return" and marks the beginning of the season of Lent. (Thomas Mukoya/Reuters)

A religious believer carries a cross at a chapel on Ash Wednesday in Altoetting, Germany, Feb. 13. (Michael Dalder/Reuters)

Students, with the cross markings on their foreheads, sing during a mass marking Ash Wednesday at a church in Manila. (Cheryl Ravelo/Reuters)

Pope Benedict XVI waves as he arrives for his weekly general audience on Feb. 13 at the Paul VI hall at the Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI made his first public appearance Wednesday since the shock announcement of his resignation, sticking with his schedule by presiding over his weekly general audience. (Filippe Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images)

A member of the faithful has her forehead marked with black ash in the sign of the cross during a Mass for Ash Wednesday at Westminster Cathedral in London. The Vatican says Pope Benedict XVI will spend his final day as pontiff on Feb. 28, attending a morning farewell ceremony with his cardinals, then fly off by helicopter in the early evening to his papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo. That timetable means Benedict will be far from the Vatican when he ceases being pope at 8 p.m. on that day. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)