VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Leo XIV imparted the pallium upon 54 new archbishops on Sunday, with Cardinal Robert McElroy and Archbishop Edward Weisenburger included in the eight prelates coming from the United States.
Imposing the pallium to newly created archbishops, Pope Leo highlighted the significance of the garment and the responsibility the prelates have for their local sees:
Dear brothers, this sign of the pastoral responsibility entrusted to you also expresses your communion with the Bishop of Rome, so that in the unity of the Catholic faith, each of you may build up that communion in your local Churches.
The pallium is a white, y-shaped liturgical garment made of lamb’s wool, and signifies the authority of a metropolitan archbishop in his see.
Simeon of Thessalonica in his liturgical commentary notes that it “signifies the Savior who, encountering us as lost sheep, takes us upon his shoulders and, assuming our human nature in the Incarnation, divinized it, offered us to the Father through his death on the cross, and exalted us through his resurrection.”
In a custom begun by Pope John Paul II in 1983, the Pope imparts the pallium on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul every year in the Vatican, for those metropolitan archbishops who have been named in the past year.
Starting in 2015, Pope Francis changed the ceremony from the hitherto public event in the Vatican. He altered it so that the archbishops would receive the pallium from the papal nuncio in their own archdioceses, which was billed as favoring “the participation of the local Church” and synodality.
However, Francis still invited the new archbishops to concelebrate the June 29 Mass with him in the Vatican where he would bless the palliums.
Leo’s imposition of the pallium was the first such event since Francis’ 2015 change, and was not officially explained by the Vatican though it was welcomed by many as a return to the previous custom.
Receiving the pallium first was Cardinal Stephen Brislin of Johannesburg, South Africa, followed by Washington’s new ordinary, Cardinal Robert McElroy. McElroy was the only one of the 54 prelates not to kneel down to receive his pallium, appearing somewhat physically out of sorts, and seemingly not able to greet Leo with the customary embrace after receiving the pallium.
Pope Leo imposes the Pallium on new Archbishops today at the Vatican
Included in the number is Cardinal McElroy, seen here receiving his pic.twitter.com/S6QWDAVXrd
— Michael Haynes 🇻🇦 (@MLJHaynes) June 29, 2025
In total, eight archbishops from the U.S. were present for the imposition:
- Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington
- Archbishop Richard Henning of Boston
- Archbishop Jeffrey Grob of Milwaukee
- Archbishop Joe Vásquez of Galveston-Houston
- Archbishop Edward Weisenburger of Detroit
- Archbishop Robert Casey of Cincinnati
- Archbishop Michael McGovern of Omaha
- Archbishop Shawn McKnight of Kansas
All eight were named to their new positions under Pope Francis, although Leo XIV – as Cardinal Prevost – would have been involved in their appointments due to his role as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops.
McElroy’s promotion to the Washington Archdiocese has been a source of controversy among many. He has issued calls to admit the divorced and “remarried” – alongside people actively engaged in homosexual lifestyles – to receive Holy Communion.
Indeed, McElroy has opposed Church teaching on the “intrinsically disordered” nature of homosexual activity, decrying the Catechism of the Catholic Church as employing “very destructive language” on the issue. The cardinal has backed the pro-LGBT work of Father James Martin, S.J., and suggested that same-sex “marriages” can “enrich the lives” of participants.
Bishop Joseph Strickland – emeritus bishop of the diocese of Tyler which is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston now led by Joe Vásquez – called on Pope Francis to reconsider McElroy’s D.C. appointment.
More recently, Weisenburger – made Detroit’s new archbishop in February – has garnered more headlines for his sweeping restrictions on the traditional Mass and also on ad orientem worship in the Novus Ordo liturgy. This, too, has led to widespread outrage among many U.S. Catholics, although the backlash has not prompted any change in policy from Weisenburger.
