On June 29, Christians commemorate the apostles Simon Peter and Paul of Tarsus’ martyrdom in Rome by celebrating the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, also known as the combined Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul.
As Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI recalled in 2012, “Christian tradition has always considered St. Peter and St. Paul as inseparable: together, in fact, they represent the whole Gospel of Christ… Although humanly very different from one another, and despite the fact that there was no lack of conflict in their relationship, they constituted a new way of being brothers, lived according to the Gospel, an authentic way made possible by the grace of the Gospel of Christ at work in them. Only the following of Jesus leads to the new fraternity.”
The feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, whose official name is the joint Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, is the commemoration of the martyrdom in Rome of the apostles Simon Peter and Paul of Tarsus, celebrated on June 29.Pope Francis participated in the Mass for the Solemnity of St. Peter and St. Paul, patron saints of Rome, in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. He presided over the opening rites of the Mass and gave the homily on June 29, 2022. During the homily on June 29, 2022, the Pope encourage the faithful to set out beyond our inner resistance and made an invitation to stand up as a synodal Church. Pope Francis used the witness of Peter and Paul to reiterate his idea of an outgoing, moving, missionary Church. Not to fall, the Pope says, “into formalism and habit.” Remembering that the proclamation of the Gospel is not neutral and does not bend to the logic of the world. As is the tradition every year on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Pope Francis blessed the pallia of the metropolitan archbishops he appointed during the past year. At the end of the Mass, he gave each archbishop present his pallium in a small box tied with a brown ribbon on June 29, 2022. Pallia are white woolen vestments adorned with six black silk crosses given to metropolitan archbishops. They symbolize the metropolitan’s authority and unity with the Successor of Peter. It is similar to a stole and is used as a scapular. The wool signifies the harshness of the rebuke to the rebels; the white color, the benevolence towards the humble and penitent. It has four crosses placed in front and behind, to the right and to the left, which means that the bishop must possess life, science, doctrine and power. It is also related to the four cardinal virtues, tinged with purple by faith in the Passion of Christ. June 29, 2022.
