Cardinal Wilton Gregory traveled to the White House on Ash Wednesday to impose ashes on President Biden, The Hill reported.

Church discipline permits the imposition of ashes outside of Mass on Ash Wednesday.

“We obviously spoke about the violence in Ukraine, and our desire that a diplomatic solution will be accomplished to bring peace to the people there and to end the carnage,” said Cardinal Gregory, who later concelebrated Ash Wednesday Mass with Ukrainian Catholic Archbishop Borys Gudziak.