BRISBANE Archbishop Shane Mackinlay has been invested with the pallium from Pope Leo XIV during a Mass at St Peter’s Basilica on June 29.

by Kymberlee Gomes – 30 June 2026

“I was deeply honoured to receive a pallium from Pope Leo XIV during the annual Mass for Saints Peter and Paul, the patron saints of the city of Rome,” Archbishop Mackinlay said.

He was one of 35 metropolitan archbishops from countries around the world, including Brazil, the Philippines, United States, South Africa, United Kingdom, India and Pakistan.

The pallium is a narrow band of white wool marked with six black crosses that is worn by metropolitan archbishops over the chasuble during liturgical celebrations.

Saints Peter and Paul were martyred in Rome and the city marks the feast of its patron saints with fireworks, flowers and celebration.

Archbishop Mackinlay Appointed Seventh Archbishop of Brisbane

The pallium is presented each year on this feast day to archbishops appointed to a metropolitan see in the preceding 12 months.

Archbishop Mackinlay was appointed the seventh Archbishop of Brisbane by Pope Leo in June 2025 and was installed at St Stephen’s Cathedral in September 2025.

“The pallium is a symbol of my ministry as Archbishop of Brisbane and it was very moving to receive it personally from the Pope,” Archbishop Mackinlay said.

“Wearing it will be a tangible reminder of the ministry he has entrusted to me of being a good shepherd who builds up the Church’s unity in communion with the successor of Peter.”

Pallium a ‘commitment of every Shepherd’

In his homily, Pope Leo reflected the ancient and moving rite of the conferral of the pallia on the metropolitan Archbishops.

“These bands of white wool adorned with crosses indeed express the commitment of every Shepherd – and also of every Christian – to take upon their shoulders the brothers and sisters entrusted to them, like so many lambs of the Lord’s flock, and to sacrifice their energy, time, effort and even their lives for them,” he said.

A delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, led by Orthodox Metropolitan Emmanuel Adamakis of Chalcedon, attended the Mass in a long-standing tradition of fraternal presence.

The pope and the Orthodox metropolitan embraced at the sign of peace and afterwards prayed together at St Peter’s tomb.

Pope Leo concluded with a moment of private prayer before the basilica’s bronze statue of St Peter, which is clothed each year on his feast in ornate vestments and a jewelled tiara.

The archbishop was joined in Rome by friends and family who had travelled for the ceremony.

“I was particularly pleased that my family was able to participate in the ceremony, along with a number of priests, bishops and lay people from Brisbane and other parts of Australia,” Archbishop Mackinlay said.

This article was originally found in The Catholic Leader and shared by EWTN Australia,