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 who were appointed during the last year, including two Americans.
Only metropolitan archbishops and the Latin-rite patriarch of Jerusalem are imposed with the white pallium with black crosses as a symbol of communion, authority, and unity with the pope and his pastoral mission to be a shepherd for 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 the prayers and made a pledge to “strive everyday 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:
1. Cardinal Archbishop Protase Rugambwa of Tabora, Tanzania
2. Archbishop Jozef Jonáš Maxim of Prešov of the Byzantines, Slovakia
3. Archbishop Rui Manuel Sousa Valério, SMM, patriarch of Lisbon, Portugal
4. Archbishop João Santos Cardoso of Natal, Brazil
5. Archbishop Guy Desrochers, CSR, of Moncton, Canada
6. Archbishop Gustavo Bombín Espino, OSST, of Toliara, Madagascar
7. Archbishop Ciro Miniero of Taranto, Italy
8. Archbishop Thomas Robert Zinkula of Dubuque, Iowa
9. Archbishop Zdenko Križić, OCD, of Split-Makarska, Croatia
10. Archbishop Linus Neli of Imphal, India
11. Archbishop Héctor Rafael Rodríguez Rodríguez, MSC, of Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic
12. Archbishop Gregório Ben Lâmed Paixão, OSB, of Fortaleza, Brazil
13. Archbishop Prosper Kontiebo, MI, of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
14. Archbishop Fernando Natalio Chomalí Garib of Santiago de Chile, Chile
15. Archbishop Víctor Hugo Basabe of Coro, Venezuela
16. Archbishop Florencio Roselló Avellanas, OdeM, of Pamplona and Tudela, Spain
17. Archbishop Giorgio Ferretti of Foggia-Bovino, Italy
18. Archbishop Biagio Colaianni of Campobasso-Boiano, Italy
19. Archbishop Herwig Gössl of Bamberg, Germany
20. Archbishop Udo Markus Bent of Paderborn, Germany
21. Archbishop Vincent Aind of Ranchi, India
22. Archbishop Abel Liluala of Pointe-Noire, Democratic Republic of Congo
23. Archbishop Gélase Armel Kema of Owando, Democratic Republic of Congo
24. Archbishop Davide Carbonaro, OMD, of Potenza-Muro Lucano-Marsico Nuovo, Italy
25. Archbishop Josef Nuzík of Olomouc, Czech Republic
26. Archbishop Luis Alberto Huamán Camayo, OMI, of Huancayo, Peru
27. Archbishop Rex Andrew C. Alarcon of Caceres, Philippines
28. Archbishop Riccardo Lamba of Udine, Italy
29. Archbishop Gabriel Blamo Jubwe of Monrovia, Liberia
30. Metropolitan Archbishop Hironimus Pakaenoni of Kupang, Indonesia
31. Archbishop Josafá Menezes da Silva of Aracaju, Brazil
32. Archbishop Félicien Ntambue Kasembe, CICM, of Kananga, Democratic Republic of Congo
33. Archbishop Raphael p’Mony Wokorach, MCCJ, of Gulu, Uganda
34. Archbishop Carlos Alberto Breis Pereira, OFM, of Maceió, Brazil
35. Archbishop Gherardo Gambelli of Florence, Italy
36. Archbishop Christopher J. Coyne of Hartford, Connecticut
37. Archbishop José Mário Scalon Angonese of Cascavel, Brazil
38. Archbishop Sergio Hernán Pérez de Arce Arraigada, SC, of Concepción, Chile
39. Archbishop Ignace Bessi Dogbo of Abidjan, Ivory Coast
40. Archbishop Paulus Budi Kleden, SVD, of Ende, Indonesia
41. Archbishop Elect Mosese Vitolio Tui, SDB, of Samoa-Apia, Samoa
42. Archbishop Benjamin Phiri of Ndola, Zambia
