Pope Francis modifies investiture ceremony for archbishops

Starting from 29 June this year, Archbishops will no longer go to Rome to receive the Pallium. Instead the ceremony of investiture of the Pallium will take place in the Metropolitan Archbishops home dioceses. Pope Francis has changed the ceremony to emphasize that the investiture is an ecclesial event of the whole diocese, and not merely a juridical or ceremonial event.

Monsignor Guido Marini, Master of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations, told Vatican Radio the ceremony will be celebrated in two significant moments: the first during which the pallium will be blessed during the Mass on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul in the Vatican; the second when it will be placed on the Metropolitan Archbishop in his own diocese, by his representative, the Apostolic Nuncio.

It will be the responsibility of the Nuncio to determine with the Metropolitan Archbishops the best date, circumstances and manner to publicly and officially invest him with the pallium by mandate of the Holy Father, and with the participation of the Suffragan Bishops of the Province.

Marini said that in this way, the ceremony will continue to symbolize communion between the See of Peter and the Successor of the Apostle and those who are chosen to carry out the episcopal ministry as Metropolitan Archbishop of an Ecclesiastical Province, and it will favour the participation of the local Church in an important moment of its life and history.

Source: Vatican Radio