The truth behind Joe Biden’s forehead ‘bruise’: Explained

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday addressed people twice, once from the White House and once at an event at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, but a dark mark on the 79-year-old’s forehead left the internet wondering whether he had suffered a bruise.

Turns out, the mark was not a bruise, but a sign of the President’s faith.

Biden, a Roman Catholic, had holy ash on his forehead on Wednesday to mark Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, a six-week period when Christians engage in fasting, repentance, and self-sacrifice. The President also clarified to reporters that the ash on his forehead had been applied by Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington DC.

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Traditionally, the ash applied to people’s foreheads on Lent come from the ashes of burnt Palms from the previous year’s Palm Sunday. These ashes are then blessed and applied on those willing.

While it is not necessary to keep the ashes on one’s forehead for an entire day, many still choose to, President Biden being among them.

This, however, was not the first time that an ash cross on Biden’s forehead had been mistaken for a bruise.

Back in 2010, renowned UK journalist Kay Burley mistook Biden’s ash cross for a bruise and suggested that the then-Vice President had walked into a door.

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“He’s probably been having a go on those tea trays down the luge or something… It certainly looks like quite a bruise, doesn’t it?,” Burley said on Sky News.

However, upon learning the truth about the mark, she apologised publicly on air for being a “very bad Catholic.”

“I know I should know that today is Ash Wednesday and that’s why he’d got ash across his forehead. I’ve said three Hail Marys, everything is going to be fine,” Burley said after the incident.