By Vatican News staff writer

Shortly before the General Audience in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall, Pope Francis bestowed the pallium on His Beatitude Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the new Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.

A note from the Holy See Press Office on Wednesday evening said the short, simple and highly symbolic ceremony took place in the Santa Marta Chapel in the Vatican.

According to Canon Law (CIC can 437), within three months from the reception of episcopal consecration or if he has already been consecrated, from the canonical provision, a metropolitan is obliged to request the pallium from the Roman Pontiff either personally or through a proxy.

It represents the power which the metropolitan has by law in his province, in communion with the Roman Church.

Pallium is the Latin word for mantle or cloak. It is a woollen band that is bestowed by the Pope upon the shoulders of Metropolitans or Primates as a testimony of their communion with the Bishop of Rome and their mission to spend their lives for the flock, imitating the Good Shepherd carrying His sheep on their shoulders.

The pallium also signifies the power which the metropolitan, in communion with the Roman Church, has by law in his own province.

On 24 October 2020, Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Pizzaballa as Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, making him the 10th Patriarch since the reestablishment of the Latin Patriarchate in 1847.

In greetings to his diocese, Patriarch Pizzabella said: “The pallium reminds us that we have chosen in Baptism to take upon us the yoke of Christ, the weight and glory of the Cross, which is love given to death and beyond.”