Top photo caption: Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass with the blessing and imposition of the pallium on new metropolitan archbishops on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican June 29, 2026. OSV News photo/Simone Risoluti, Vatican Media
By Courtney Mares, OSV News
VATICAN CITY OSV News — On the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, Pope Leo XIV personally placed the pallium on the shoulders of 35 metropolitan archbishops, urging them to follow the example of the patron saints of Rome in being “builders of unity” and “servants of the truth in charity.”
“Let us pray to Saints Peter and Paul that they may sustain us on our journey of communion in the footsteps of the Savior,” the Pope said in his homily in St. Peter’s Basilica June 29.
Sts. Peter and Paul, who were both martyred in Rome, are venerated as the patron saints of the Eternal City, which marks the solemnity with fireworks, flowers, and much celebration.
The Via della Conciliazione, the broad avenue leading to St. Peter’s Square, was decorated with colorful handcrafted floral carpets in honor of the feast, while inside the basilica the centuries-old bronze statue of St. Peter was adorned with vestments and a papal tiara.
But the heart of the city’s celebration was the Mass with the 267th successor of Peter at the main altar of the basilica, built over the tomb of St. Peter and filled with cardinals and bishops for the occasion.
Pope Leo presented the woolen bands to archbishops from across the globe, including newly appointed archbishops of Kraków, Calcutta, Cape Town, Cebu, Brisbane and Lahore.
Four American archbishops were among them: Archbishop Ronald A. Hicks of New York, Archbishop James F. Checchio of New Orleans, Archbishop James R. Golka of Denver and Archbishop Mark S. Rivituso of Mobile, Alabama.
The pallium — a 3-inch-wide woolen band adorned with crosses, with 14-inch strips hanging down the front and back — is a liturgical vestment symbolizing unity with the Pope and service to the faithful. Metropolitan archbishops wear it when celebrating Mass within their ecclesiastical province.
“These bands of white wool adorned with crosses indeed express the commitment of every Shepherd — and also of every Christian — to take upon their shoulders the brothers and sisters entrusted to them, like so many lambs of the Lord’s flock,” the Pope said.
In presenting the palliums, Pope Leo XIV revived a tradition originally established by St. John Paul II in 1983 of personally placing the vestment on each archbishop’s shoulders. Pope Francis had in 2015 returned the practice to local nuncios presiding over the imposition of the pallium in each archbishop’s home archdiocese.
In his homily, Pope Leo drew on the symbols traditionally associated with the two apostles, keys for St. Peter, and a sword and book for St. Paul, to illustrate what he called the Church’s path to authentic unity.
“A key does not break down doors; rather, it opens and closes them by finding the proper levers within,” the Pope said.
“In the same way, communion within the Church is not built by clinging rigidly to one’s own position, but by seeking, in all hearts, points of encounter in the Truth,” he added.
Reflecting on St. Paul, Pope Leo said the apostle “allowed himself to be transformed by the power of God’s word, which rescued him from the way of violence and led him onto the path of love.”
The Mass was attended by some of the 178 cardinals who gathered in Rome for an extraordinary consistory June 26-27, during which they discussed the Pope’s recent encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas” and the implementation process of the Synod of Bishops on synodality.
Also present was a delegation from the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, who joined Pope Leo at the conclusion of Mass in praying at the tomb of St. Peter in the crypt beneath the basilica’s main altar.
“Dear friends, it is important for us today to look to these two Saints — Peter and Paul — to understand how we, in turn, can be apostles and builders of unity, and generous servants of the truth in charity,” Pope Leo said.
“Peter’s example is an invitation to every Christian to become a builder of unity, placing God at the center of one’s life and drawing close to one’s brothers and sisters, attentive to their circumstances and needs,” he said. ” In this way, we learn to live with one another in charity, so that the message might be fully proclaimed.”
Courtney Mares is Vatican editor for OSV News. Follow her on X @catholicourtney.
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