Monsignor was also there Giovanni Accolla Among the 36 metropolitan archbishops and patriarchs appointed in 2016 who received the Pallio from Pope Francis at the end of the celebration for the saints Peter and Paolo who took place in the Vatican. “Teach the prayer praying, announce the faith by believing, testifying to living,” the Holy Father had told them during the homily. “Be angels and messengers of charity for the most needy, because the most effective and most authentic testimony is to not contradict, with behavior and life, how much is preached with the word and how much to others!”. The imposition of the pallium then took place in Messina; This is for a provision of Pope Francis of 12 January 2015, according to which the ritual must be carried out in the dioceses of origin by the local apostolic nuncia. A choice that serves to strengthen the relationship of the archbishops with their local churches, also giving the possibility to the faithful and bishops of the diocese Suffraganae – (that is, linked to a metropolitan headquarters within the ecclesiastical province; in the case of Sicily, Messina Lipari Santa Lucia del Mela It is the ecclesiastical province that includes Messina, in fact, metropolitan headquarters, Patti and Nicosia Diocese suffragan) – to be present at the rite.
Pallium is a wool strip, in the shape of a letter Y. It represents the good shepherd who carries the crucified lamb for the salvation of men on his shoulders, but at the same time also the bond that unites the Pope with the metropolitan seats. The pallium is decorated with six black silk crosses, one on each tail and four on the uncertain. Initially he was reserved only for the bishop of Rome, subsequently the Popes granted him to some bishops and archbishops. In later times the pallium became the prerogative of the metropolitan archbishops (to the head of an ecclesiastical province, that is, a region that includes more diocese) as a symbol of jurisdiction in communion with the Holy See.
Pallium is the symbol of a special link with the Pope and also expresses the power that, in communion with the Church of Rome, the metropolitan archbishop acquires by right in his jurisdiction. According to canon law, a metropolitan must ask for the pallium within three months of its appointment and is authorized to wear it only in the territory of its diocese and in the other dioceses of its ecclesiastical province. The Pallium of the Metropolitan Archbishops, in its present shape, is a narrow band of fabric, about five centimeters, woven in white wool, curved to the center so that it can support it behind the planet or casula and with two black flaps pending in front and behind, so that – seen both in front and behind – the parade remembers the letter “Y”. It is decorated with six black silk crosses, one on each tail and four on the uncertain, and is garnished, in front and behind, with three golden pins and jewelry (acity). The pallium is blessed by the Holy Father during the Eucharistic concelebration he presided over every year in the Basilica of San Pietro on 29 June, feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. Participation in this ritual is for all new metropolitans a special duty to be placed before any other commitment. Starting from the year 2015, the methods of conferring the Sacra teaches have been modified: in fact, it is no longer imposed directly by the Holy Father but only received from his hands in private form at the end of the concelebration of 29 June.