Francis and a long line of priests, bishops and cardinals walked in a procession through Rome’s Aventine hill into the fifth-century Santa Sabina basilica for a late-afternoon mass.
Neither the priests nor the faithful wore face masks, but Rome has largely been spared the virus as Italy’s national case count jumped to more than 400.
Earlier in the day, the pontiff also held his general audience as thousands of people gathered in Saint Peter’s Square with face masks to protect against the virus.
Francis prayed for the thousands of victims of the virus affected globally and the medical personnel treating them, before he looped through the square in his “pope mobile”, shaking hands with pilgrims in the front row and kissing at least one baby.
“I wish, again, to express my closeness to those who are ill with coronavirus and to health-care workers who are caring for them," the pope said.
He also greeted prelates with a handshake at the beginning and end of the gathering, but it appeared most clergy were refraining from kissing Francis’ ring or embracing him, as they normally would do.
In his remarks, he urged the faithful to put down their mobile phones during Lent and pick up the Bible instead.
“It is the time to give up useless words, chatter, rumors, gossip, and talk and to speak directly to the Lord,” he said.
While Francis went ahead with his usual Ash Wednesday plans, the patriarchate of Venice cancelled the mass scheduled for Saint Mark’s Basilica, after a handful of elderly people in the lagoon city tested positive for the virus.
Other Catholic countries took Ash Wednesday precautions.
In the Philippines – Asia’s only majority Roman Catholic country – priests sprinkled ashes on the heads of the faithful rather than making the mark of the cross on their foreheads to avoid physical contact.
