A small Jamaican posse is here in Rome to support our Archbishop, Donald Reece, who received his pallium from Pope Benedict XVI last Sunday, the Feast of Sts Peter and Paul. Of the 60 new Metropolitan archbishops worldwide, four were from the insular Caribbean: from the Provinces of Castries (St Lucia), Cap Haitien and Port-au-Prince (Haiti) and Kingston (Jamaica). It was a wonderful, worshipful ceremony, parts of which were in 10 languages - Swahili, Arabic, Chinese, English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Latin and Greek.

Ecumenical celebration

It was also a profoundly ecumenical celebration. Joining Benedict XVI at the altar was Bartholomew I, Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church, which is not in communion with Rome, but maybe there were signs of things to come. The reading from the Gospel According to Matthew (16:13-19) was proclaimed twice - first by a Roman Rite deacon (in Latin) and then by an Orthodox deacon (in Greek). The familiar text contains the words: "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church", et cetera. That, as far as I am concerned, is news! Two homilies followed, one by the Patriarch and one by the Holy Father (both in Italian). Then the Creed was recited by all (in Greek). After the Prayers of the Faithful, the Patriarch left the sanctuary, but he returned at the end of the celebration to bestow his blessing upon the assembly. I hope that my readers, who long for Christian unity, will be additionally inspired to pray hard!

The pallium is a garment made of wool, worn by the Metropolitan Archbishop around his shoulders. Each year, on the Feast of St Agnes (January 21), lambs raised around the area where (tradition says) St Paul the Apostle was martyred (the "Three Fountains" area of Rome), are taken to the church built over the tomb of St Agnes. They are presented to the Pope, and then they are entrusted to the care of the nuns of St Cecelia's Convent. Around Easter-time they are shorn of their wool, which is then used to weave the pallia, and the lambs are eaten as Easter fare. Both St Agnes and St Cecelia were holy women, who were martyred for their Christian faith when they bucked civil authority.

The artful shepherd

The pallium is supposed to remind its wearer of The Good Shepherd, who "knows his sheep", and who goes after the one who is lost, and when he finds it he "lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing" (Lk. 15: 5). The artful shepherd who knows his sheep is better equipped to discern the best method to rescue them, and to keep them together. And he is prepared to lay down his life for his sheep, as did both Peter and Paul.

After the pallia are woven, they are placed in the tomb of the apostle Peter under the high altar of St Peter's Basilica here in Rome; they thus become relics of the apostle, since they have been in the presence of his bones. The journey that each new Metropolitan Archbishop makes to Rome with some of his flock, is a pilgrimage to the tomb of the apostle Peter, and to the Pope, who is his successor. The Metropolitan returns to his Province with a relic of the one to whom Christ entrusted "the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven" (Mt. 16:19); he will wear it every time he celebrates the Eucharist; and he will be buried in it.

The pallium, now in the possession of Archbishop Reece, signifies the communion between Jesus and the Bishop of Rome and himself and the people of God he shepherds. Woven into the wool are six crosses, and piercing three of them are pins, each representing a nail which pierced the body of Christ, reminding him that he must be prepared to suffer for the sake of the building of the Kingdom.

As we toured the Necropolis, the huge burial complex under St Peter's Basilica, we got a glimpse of St Peter's tomb under the high altar of the original St Peter's Church which is underneath the present one. The actual tomb is off limits to visitors. Archaeologists continue to excavate the Necropolis. We were one of the first ever to tour a section only opened to the public 10 days before. Because of the fragility of the site, only 200 visitors are permitted to enter the Necropolis each day.

It is a wonderful time to be in Rome. Last Saturday night, the Holy Father (and Patriarch Bartholomew I) declared open the "Year of St Paul", marking the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of that great missionary, at the site of his tomb under the high altar in the Basilica of St. Paul-outside-the-Walls. Let us hope that this year will indeed be a great one for missionary activity.

The Rev Peter Espeut is a sociologist and a Roman Catholic deacon