Pope Francis to Bless Pallia at Mass on Sts. Peter and Paul’s Feast Day

By Kristina Millare

Pope Francis will bless vestments known as “pallia” during Mass on the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican on Saturday, June 29. Each blessed pallium — bands made of white wool adorned with six black silk crosses — will be placed on the shoulders of the 42 new metropolitan archbishops appointed during the last year, including two Americans.

Only metropolitan archbishops and the Latin-rite patriarch of Jerusalem are vested with the white pallium with black crosses as a symbol of communion, authority, and unity with the pope and his pastoral mission to shepherd the people of God. The tradition of the papal blessing of the pallia for select bishops began in the sixth century, but it was not until the ninth century that all metropolitan bishops were mandated to wear the woolen vestment.

Since 2015, the imposition of the pallia on metropolitan archbishops takes place in their home countries, rather than at the Vatican, as a sign of “synodality” with local churches.

Two Americans — Archbishop Thomas Robert Zinkula of Dubuque, Iowa, and Archbishop Christopher J. Coyne of Hartford, Connecticut — will receive the pallium this year. Following the announcement of Zinkula’s appointment, Jim Thill, a deacon at Holy Spirit Parish in Dubuque, told the Telegraph Herald: “He is my idea of a shepherd for the Church. He is highly educated and has had a lot of accolades, but he has never lost the common touch. He is just one of the people.”

In May, as he officially assumed the office of archbishop of Hartford, Coyne asked for prayers and pledged to “strive every day to be a faithful image of the Good Shepherd, who welcomes the lost and protects those who struggle.”

The following metropolitan archbishops were appointed during the past year and will receive the pallium:

• Cardinal Archbishop Protase Rugambwa of Tabora, Tanzania
• Archbishop Jozef Jonáš Maxim of Prešov of the Byzantines, Slovakia
• Archbishop Rui Manuel Sousa Valério, SMM, patriarch of Lisbon, Portugal
• Archbishop João Santos Cardoso of Natal, Brazil
• Archbishop Guy Desrochers, CSR, of Moncton, Canada
• Archbishop Gustavo Bombín Espino, OSST, of Toliara, Madagascar
• Archbishop Ciro Miniero of Taranto, Italy
• Archbishop Thomas Robert Zinkula of Dubuque, Iowa
• Archbishop Zdenko Križić, OCD, of Split-Makarska, Croatia
• Archbishop Linus Neli of Imphal, India
• Archbishop Héctor Rafael Rodríguez Rodríguez, MSC, of Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic
• Archbishop Gregório Ben Lâmed Paixão, OSB, of Fortaleza, Brazil
• Archbishop Prosper Kontiebo, MI, of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
• Archbishop Fernando Natalio Chomalí Garib of Santiago de Chile, Chile
• Archbishop Víctor Hugo Basabe of Coro, Venezuela
• Archbishop Florencio Roselló Avellanas, OdeM, of Pamplona and Tudela, Spain
• Archbishop Giorgio Ferretti of Foggia-Bovino, Italy
• Archbishop Biagio Colaianni of Campobasso-Boiano, Italy
• Archbishop Herwig Gössl of Bamberg, Germany
• Archbishop Udo Markus Bent of Paderborn, Germany
• Archbishop Vincent Aind of Ranchi, India
• Archbishop Abel Liluala of Pointe-Noire, Democratic Republic of Congo
• Archbishop Gélase Armel Kema of Owando, Democratic Republic of Congo
• Archbishop Davide Carbonaro, OMD, of Potenza-Muro Lucano-Marsico Nuovo, Italy
• Archbishop Josef Nuzík of Olomouc, Czech Republic
• Archbishop Luis Alberto Huamán Camayo, OMI, of Huancayo, Peru
• Archbishop Rex Andrew C. Alarcon of Caceres, Philippines
• Archbishop Riccardo Lamba of Udine, Italy
• Archbishop Gabriel Blamo Jubwe of Monrovia, Liberia
• Metropolitan Archbishop Hironimus Pakaenoni of Kupang, Indonesia
• Archbishop Josafá Menezes da Silva of Aracaju, Brazil
• Archbishop Félicien Ntambue Kasembe, CICM, of Kananga, Democratic Republic of Congo
• Archbishop Raphael p’Mony Wokorach, MCCJ, of Gulu, Uganda
• Archbishop Carlos Alberto Breis Pereira, OFM, of Maceió, Brazil
• Archbishop Gherardo Gambelli of Florence, Italy
• Archbishop Christopher J. Coyne of Hartford, Connecticut
• Archbishop José Mário Scalon Angonese of Cascavel, Brazil
• Archbishop Sergio Hernán Pérez de Arce Arraigada, SC, of Concepción, Chile
• Archbishop Ignace Bessi Dogbo of Abidjan, Ivory Coast
• Archbishop Paulus Budi Kleden, SVD, of Ende, Indonesia
• Archbishop Elect Mosese Vitolio Tui, SDB, of Samoa-Apia, Samoa
• Archbishop Benjamin Phiri of Ndola, Zambia

This story was first published by Catholic News Agency, EWTN Norway’s news partner. It has been adapted by EWTN Norway.