Vatican City, Feb 17, 2021 / 03:15 am (CNA).- The 40 days of Lent are an opportunity to turn from the slavery of sin to the freedom found in reconciliation with God, Pope Francis said on Ash Wednesday.

“The journey of Lent is an exodus from slavery to freedom,” the pope said Feb. 17. “These forty days correspond to the forty years that God’s people trekked through the desert to return to their homeland. How difficult it was to leave Egypt!”