The Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles – June 29, 2025
The last time June 29 fell on a Sunday was in 2014, and the next time won’t be until 2035. So today’s solemnity is a treat!
On this day, the Pope blesses the pallia (singular: pallium), the white, woolen strips of cloth adorned with six crosses and worn across the shoulders only by the Pope and metropolitan archbishops who have permission to wear it. The pallium symbolizes the Pope’s full authority and power, and each Pope may share that authority with select archbishops by conferring to them a pallium.
The paths and viewpoints of St. Peter and St. Paul may have diverged, but their goal was always the same: to spread the good news of Jesus to the world.
This simple liturgical vestment resembles a yoke or collar placed on work animals for pulling loads or plowing fields. Though some yokes are made for individual animals, most join pairs of animals together so they can pull in the same direction. How fitting, then, that St. Peter and St. Paul are honored together on this day of their shared martyrdom (Peter in 64; Paul in 67). Their paths and viewpoints may have diverged, but their goal was always the same: to spread the good news of Jesus to the world. As the eucharistic preface for this day proclaims, “each in a different way gathered together the one family of Christ.”
We, too, share in that common mission of Peter and Paul, with or without a pallium, for in baptism, we have all been yoked together in Christ.
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