A woman and girl take part in a procession through the streets of Ayacucho, Peru, during Holy Week celebrations April 3, 2012. (CNS photo/Oscar Durand) ...read more

A penitent of the San Esteban brotherhood walks during Holy Week in Andalusian, Spain, March 26, 2013. Hundreds of Easter processions take place around the clock in Spain during Holy Week, drawing thousands of visitors. (CNS photo/Marcelo del Pozo, Reuters). ...read more

Pope Benedict XVI holds the cross as he leads the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum in Rome in 2007. (CNS photo/Max Rossi, Reuters) ...read more

Father David Regan reads during a brief break between hearing confessions at St. Patrick Church in Smithtown, N.Y., March 25, 2013. St. Patrick and all other parishes in the Dioceses of Rockville Centre, N.Y., and Brooklyn, N.Y., and the Archdiocese of New York participate annually in Reconciliation Monday, which falls during Holy Week and offers ...read more

Actor Mario Valencia, portraying Christ, performs during a baptism ceremony as part of Holy Week celebrations along the Rimac river in Lima, Peru, March 28, 2013. (CNS photo/Enrique Castro-Mendivil, Reuters) (March 29, 2013) ...read more

Pilgrims walk across a tidal causeway while carrying crosses during the final leg of the Northern Cross pilgrimage to Holy Island in northern England. For more than 30 years Christians have taken part in the pilgrimage to Holy Island, walking through Northumberland and along the Scottish border during Holy Week. (CNS photo/David Moir, Reuters) (March ...read more

Inmates hold a “pabasa” inside a jail in the Makati financial district in Manila, Philippines. The pabasa is a rendition of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus through songs and chants and is widely practiced during Lent in the largely Catholic nation. (CNS photo/Romeo Ranoco, Reuters) ...read more

A woman prays during Ash Wednesday Mass at St. Andrew’s Church in the Manhattan borough of New York. (CNS photo/Carlo Allegri, Reuters) (March 6, 2014) ...read more

A nun makes a cross on a woman’s forehead with ashes during Ash Wednesday Mass at the cathedral in Bamako, Mali. (CNS photo/Joe Penney, Reuters) ...read more

A lay minister and nun use ashes to mark a cross on the forehead of churchgoers during Ash Wednesday Mass outside of a church in Manila, Philippines. (CNS photo/Erik De Castro, Reuters) ...read more