Five Indian Archbishops receive pallium from Pope

(June 30, 2007) Pope Benedict XVI on Friday bestowed the pallium on 46 new metropolitian archbishops around the world, including 5 from India, and prayed that they would be true shepherds of their flocks and always united with the pope. "May this pallium be for you a symbol of unity and a sign of communion with the Apostolic See," the pope said as the archbishops appointed in the past year knelt before him during a solemn Mass marking the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, the patrons of Rome. The four Indians who received the pallium are Archbishops Oswald Gracias of Bombay, Filipe Neri Ferrao of Goa and Daman, Albert D’Souza of Agra, Dominic Lumon of Imphal and Leo Cornelio of Bhopal.
The pallium is a white stole made of wool with 6 black crosses which metropolitan archbishops wear around their necks as a sign of their authority and their unity with the Pope. The pope's homily at mass focused on St. Peter's profession of faith in Jesus Christ as the son of the living God, following which Jesus said that he would build his church on Peter, making it clear that Peter's profession of faith "is inseparable from the pastoral task entrusted to him." As in the time of Christ, the Pope said, even today people recognize Jesus' "spiritual and moral stature and his influence on human history, comparing him to Buddha, Confucius, Socrates and other wise and great historic personalities. But they do not reach the point of recognizing his uniqueness." "Because he truly is God incarnate and because he suffered, died and rose from the dead, Jesus," Pope Benedict stressed, "is more than a prophet." "He is the one saviour of all humanity,"he added.