Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are obligatory days of fasting and abstinence for Catholics.
In addition, Fridays during Lent are obligatory days of abstinence. For members of the Latin Catholic Church (Rome), the norms on fasting are obligatory from age 18 until age 59.

When fasting, a person is permitted to eat one full meal, as well as two smaller meals that
together are not equal to a full meal. The norms concerning abstinence from meat are binding upon members of the Latin Catholic Church from age 14 onwards are to observe the particular law of their own sui iuris Church.

A Reflection on Lenten Fasting: If possible, the fast on Good Friday is continued until the
Easter Vigil (on Holy Saturday night) as the "paschal fast" to honor the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus and to prepare ourselves to share more fully and to celebrate more readily his Resurrection.

What is Lent (February 14-April 2, 2026)? Lent is a 40-day season of prayer, fasting, and
almsgiving that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sundown on Holy Thursday. It's a period of preparation to celebrate the Lord's Resurrection at Easter. During Lent, we seek the Lord in prayer by reading Sacred Scripture; we serve by giving alms; and we practice self-control through fasting. We are called not only to abstain from luxuries during Lent, but to a true inner conversion of heart as we seek to follow Christ's will more faithfully. We recall the waters of baptism in which we were also baptized into Christ's death, death to sin and evil, and begin new life in Christ.

Many know of the tradition of abstaining from meat on Fridays during Lent, but we are also calledto practice self-discipline and fast in other ways throughout the season. We are called to contemplate the meaning and origins of the Lenten fasting traditionby reading up on the Church’s teachings in the Catechism. In addition, the giving of alms is one way to share God's gifts—not only through the distribution of money, but through the sharing of our time and talents. As St. John Chrysostom reminds us: "Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life. The goods we possess are not ours, but theirs." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2446). In Lent, the baptized are called to renew their baptismal commitment as others prepare to be baptized through the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults, a period of learning and discernment for individuals who have declared
their desire to become Catholics.

(Source: USCCB.org)