Real Catholic Blog

This is a very interesting ritual of Church tradition: According to the Vatican . . .

This morning, for the Memorial of Saint Agnes, two lambs whose wool will be used for the weaving of the sacred pallium, were brought to the Pope. The pallium is a stole of white wool with six black crosses, which is kept in an urn at the Tomb of Saint Peter and conferred by the Pope on June 29th, the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, to the new metropolitan archbishops, so as to remember the special communion that binds them to the Apostolic See. The lambs are raised by the sisters of the Roman convent of San Lorenzo and offered to the Pontiff by the Canons Regular of the Lateran on the day of the Memorial of Saint Agnes, the Roman martyr traditionally depicted with a lamb. 

Pope Benedict XVI blesses the lambs for use in the sacred pallium.

Earlier this week, at his general audience, the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, received a lot of attention — and admiration — for his talk on the ecumenical movement. His central message during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity:

Christians must still strongly rely on the divine gift of unity, because the world needs a common witness and a renewed fidelity to Christ, the Son of God died and rose again for the salvation of man.

Pope Benedict XVI spoke about the importance of centering one’s life in Christ, the risen Lord, who humbled Himself by His human nature and died for our sins, as a common witness for salvation.