Jaro archbishop to get pallium from Pope Leo

ARCHBISHOP Midyphil Billones of Jaro will receive the pallium from Pope Leo XIV during a solemn Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday in celebration of the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul.

The pallium — a narrow band of white wool worn over the shoulders — symbolizes an archbishop’s communion with the pope and his responsibility as a shepherd of his local church. Traditionally bestowed by the pope himself, the investiture highlights the unity between the Holy See and metropolitan archbishops around the world.

In a notable return to tradition, Pope Leo XIV will personally confer the pallium during the liturgy, reinstating a centuries-old practice that had been altered during the pontificate of Pope Francis.

Since 2015, the pallium has been blessed in Rome but conferred later in the archbishops’ respective dioceses by the papal nuncio.

This Sunday’s ceremony marks a significant moment not only for Archbishop Billones but also for Pope Leo XIV, who will preside over the rite for the first time as pontiff. Billones will join 47 other newly appointed metropolitan archbishops from around the world in receiving the vestment.

Pope Francis appointed Billones as Archbishop of Jaro on Feb. 2, succeeding Archbishop Jose Romeo Lazo, who retired earlier this year.

Billones was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Jaro in 1995 and was appointed auxiliary bishop of Cebu in 2019. He was formally installed as Jaro’s 14th archbishop on April 2.

The Archdiocese of Jaro, located in Iloilo, is one of the oldest ecclesiastical jurisdictions in the Philippines and serves as a key spiritual center in the Visayas region.