The following comes from a June 29 story on the Catholic News Agency website.

At a Mass during the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, Pope Francis gave a pallium to the 34 men who were made archbishops in the last year, highlighting their fidelity to Rome and to the papacy.

“May you see in this Pallium a symbol of unity and a sign of communion with the Apostolic See,” Pope Francis told the archbishops June 29.

“May it be a bond of charity and a source of strength, so that on the day of the coming and revelation of our great God and the chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ, you may obtain, together with the flock entrusted to you, the robe of immortality and glory.”

The pallium is a white wool vestment, emblazoned with six black silk crosses. Dating back to at least the fifth century, the wearing of the pallium by metropolitan archbishops symbolizes authority as well as unity with the Holy See.

Of the 34 recipients of the pallium, four were Americans: Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco; Archbishop Joseph Tobin of Indianapolis; Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland; and Archbishop Michael Jackels of Dubuque, Iowa.

A pallium has also been sent to Archbishop Francois Xavier Le Vang Hong, of Hue in Vietnam, who was unable to attend the Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica….

Archbishop Cordileone called the ceremony a “moving experience,” adding that it was “hard to believe that it was happening to me.”

“I was waiting for Pope Francis to tell me ‘pax tecum’ (peace be with you) and if he said it, I didn’t hear him but he was smiling at me so I thought he was waiting for me to say something,” said the archbishop of San Francisco.

“So I thanked him for his service to the Church and he mentioned San Francisco because before the Mass I introduced myself as being from the archdiocese which bears his name and he remembered that,” he said.

Archbishop Cordileone said he then invited the Pope to visit San Francisco, that he seemed willing to do so and that it would be “a great blessing to receive him in the archdiocese that bears his name.”

The archbishop told how before the Mass he had been reflecting with Archbishop Sample on when he was a seminarian and on his uncertainty of being a good priest.

“I never imagined this state would arrive in my life but it shows how God takes care of us when we try to do his will as best we can,” he said, smiling….

To read entire story, click here.