Pope restores tradition of imposing pallium on archbishops

June 11, 2025

Pope Leo will impose the pallium on new archbishops during Mass on June 29, restoring a tradition that was discontinued by Pope Francis in 2015.

The imposition of the pallium—a white vestment symbolic of the authority of a metropolitan archbishop—has traditionally been imposed on newly appointed archbishops on the feast of St. Peter and Paul. The Pontiff personally imposes the vestment, as a symbol of communion between the archbishop and the Holy See.

In 2015, Pope Francis had announced that rather than calling all of the world’s new archbishops to Rome for the ceremony, he would commission the apostolic nuncios in the various countries to impose the pallium, explaining that the local ceremony would “greatly favor the participation of the local Church.” However that approach de-emphasized the sense of the archbishop’s ties to the Holy See.

On June 11, without comment on the practice that had prevailed in recent years, the Vatican announced that the pallia would be imposed on the new archbishops by the Pontiff in the traditional manner on the patronal feast day of the Holy See.

 

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Further information:

• Notification from the Office of Liturgical Celebrations (Vatican press office)