Vatican City – On the morning of Sunday, 29 June 2025, Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, the Holy Father Leo XIV will preside over the solemn Eucharistic Celebration at the Altar of the Confession in St Peter’s Basilica. The liturgy will begin at 9:30 a.m. and will be marked, as per tradition, by the blessing and imposition of the Pallia on the new Metropolitan Archbishops appointed during the course of the year.
The Pallium, woven from white wool, is a symbol of communion with the Bishop of Rome and of the pastoral service carried out cum Petro et sub Petro in the respective metropolitan sees. It is personally imposed by the Pope at the end of a rite that highlights the responsibility and mission of the metropolitans in the universal Church.
This year, 54 new Metropolitans from around the world will receive the Pallium. Among those highlighted are:
Card. Robert Walter McElroy, Archbishop of Washington (U.S.A.)
Card. Stephen Brislin, Archbishop of Johannesburg (South Africa)
Mons. Richard G. Henning, Archbishop of Boston (U.S.A.)
Mons. Mark O’Toole, Archbishop of Cardiff-Menevia (Wales)
Mons. John Francis Sherrington, Archbishop of Liverpool (England)
The full list of recipients includes: Mons. Antonio D’Angelo – L’Aquila (Italy); Mons. Saverio Cannistrà, O.C.D. – Pisa (Italy); Mons. Angelo Raffaele Panzetta – Lecce (Italy); Mons. Giovanni Peragine, B. – Shkodrë-Pult (Albania), of Italian nationality; Mons. Raúl Biord Castillo, S.D.B. – Caracas (Venezuela); Mons. Jesús Andoni González de Zárate Salas – Valencia en Venezuela (Venezuela); Mons. Polito Rodríguez Méndez – Barquisimeto (Venezuela); Mons. José Rodríguez Carballo, O.F.M. – Mérida-Badajoz (Spain); Mons. Oscar Roberto Domínguez Couttolenc, M.G. – Tulancingo (Mexico); Mons. Jaime Calderón Calderón – León (Mexico); Mons. Ryan Pagente Jimenez – Agaña (Guam); Mons. Robert Cissé – Bamako (Mali); Mons. Jacques Assanvo Ahiwa – Bouaké (Ivory Coast); Mons. Fransiskus Nipa – Makassar (Indonesia); Mons. Jeffrey S. Grob – Milwaukee (U.S.A.); Mons. Adrian Józef Galbas, S.A.C. – Warszawa (Poland); Mons. Odelir José Magri, M.C.C.J. – Chapecó (Brazil); Mons. Francisco Carlos Bach – Joinville (Brazil); Mons. Gustavo Oscar Carrara – La Plata (Argentina); Mons. Víctor Hugo Palma Paúl – Los Altos, Quetzaltenango-Totonicapán (Guatemala); Mons. Laurent Birfuoré Dabiré – Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso); Mons. Ângelo Ademir Mezzari, R.C.I. – Vitória (Brazil); Mons. Francis Xavier Vira Arpondratana – Bangkok (Thailand); Mons. Susitino Sione Poe, S.M. – Nouméa (New Caledonia); Mons. Jérôme Beau – Poitiers (France); Mons. Joe Steve Vásquez – Galveston-Houston (U.S.A.); Mons. John Rodrigues – Bombay (India); Mons. Midyphil Bermejo Billones – Jaro (Philippines); Mons. Udumala Bala Showreddy – Visakhapatnam (India); Mons. Gilberto Alfredo Vizcarra Mori, S.I. – Trujillo (Peru); Mons. Edward Joseph Weisenburger – Detroit (U.S.A.); Mons. Robert G. Casey – Cincinnati (U.S.A.); Mons. Vítor Agnaldo de Menezes – Vitória da Conquista (Brazil); Mons. André Gueye – Dakar (Senegal); Mons. José Adolfo Larregain, O.F.M. – Corrientes (Argentina); Mons. Richard W. Smith – Vancouver (Canada); Mons. José Francisco González González – Tuxtla Gutiérrez (Mexico); Mons. Ángel Francisco Caraballo Fermín – Cumaná (Venezuela); Mons. Armand Koné – Korhogo (Ivory Coast); Mons. Clement Papa – Mount Hagen (Papua New Guinea); Mons. Zbigniew Zieliński – Poznań (Poland); Mons. Michael G. McGovern – Omaha (U.S.A.); Mons. William Shawn McKnight – Kansas City in Kansas (U.S.A.); Mons. Jean-Jacques Koffi Oi Koffi – Gagnoa (Ivory Coast); Mons. Varghese Chakkalakal – Calicut (India); Mons. Antônio Emídio Vilar, S.D.B. – São José do Rio Preto (Brazil); Mons. Joseph Đặng Đức Ngân – Huê (Vietnam); Mons. Raúl Martín – Paraná (Argentina).
The presence of these pastors at the Celebration of the Patron Saints of Rome is a sign of ecclesial communion, but also of unity in faith and in the evangelising mission of the Church.
d.D.R.
Silere non possum