Installation of Eleventh Archbishop of Southwark

On Thursday 25th July at 12 noon, the Most Reverend John Wilson will be installed as the eleventh bishop of Southwark in St George's Cathedral. Archbishop Peter Smith will preside until the Installation of Archbishop John Wilson has taken place.

During the Installation, the Apostolic Letter of Appointment from Pope Francis will be read by Monsignor Matthew Dickens, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Southwark. Thereafter, the Apostolic Nuncio, His Excellency Edward J Adams, will invest Archbishop John with the Pallium. The bestowal of this item is a sign that he is a Metropolitan Archbishop, shepherd of his flock and in communion with the Apostolic See.

The word 'Pallium' is a Latin word which translates as 'cloak' and is worn over the chasuble. It bears six crosses, of which three have a pin (known as a 'spinula', which translates as 'thorn'). Every year, on the feast of St Agnes, two lambs are brought from the site of St Paul's martyrdom at Tre Fontane to the Basilica of St Agnes on the Via Nomentana in Rome. After being blessed they are taken and presented to the Pope and will then remain in the care of the Sisters who reside at the Basilica of St Cecilia in Trastevere. The two lambs are shorn just before Easter and their wool is used to make the pallia for newly-appointed Archbishops. At one time each Pallium would be handmade by the sisters, but the number of Archbishops in need of pallia each year has made it impossible to continue this practice and a chosen company now manufactures them. However, each pallium contains strands of the wool shorn from two chosen lambs. In 2019 pallia were presented to 31 newly-appointed Archbishops on 29th June 2019 (the Solemnity of St Peter and St Paul); resting overnight, before being presented, in front the tomb of St Peter in the Crypt of St Peter's Basilica, Rome.

Following receipt of the Pallium, Archbishop Wilson will be installed in his Cathedra, which is both the Archbishop's throne and diocesan seat. It is a symbol his authority to teach and is the basis of the word and concept of a Cathedral. Finally as a symbol of the passing of jurisdiction in the Archdiocese of Southwark, Archbishop Peter Smith will hand on the Diocesan Crozier to Archbishop John Wilson as a sign of his new pastoral authority.

Also in attendance at the Installation of Archbishop John Wilson will be Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham, Archbishop George Stack of Cardiff and Archbishop Arthur Roche, currently the Secretary for the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments in Rome and previously Bishop of Leeds. Following Archbishop Arthur Roche's appointment to Rome, the then Fr John Wilson was elected as Administrator of the Diocese of Leeds by the College of Consultors, holding this post between September 2012 to November 2014. Soon after he was appointed as an Auxiliary Bishop in the Archdiocese of Westminster and Titular Bishop of Lindisfarne by Pope Francis. He was ordained to the episcopate by Cardinal Vincent Nichols on the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul, 25 January 2016.

A statement from the Archdiocese says: "The clergy and laity of the Diocese warmly welcome Archbishop John Wilson to Southwark and greatly look forward to working with him in fulfilling God's mission for the Archdiocese."