MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – Archbishop Mark Rivituso will leave for Vatican City next week to receive one of the Catholic Church’s most sacred honors directly from the first American pope.
Rivituso leads Catholics not only in the Diocese of Mobile, stretching from the Gulf Coast to Montgomery, but also oversees the dioceses in Birmingham, along with Biloxi and Jackson in Mississippi. That makes him a metropolitan archbishop and eligible to receive a pallium, a band made of lamb’s wool.
It has six black crosses and three pins, recalling the crucifixion of Christ. Rivituso said it symbolizes an archbishop’s role as shepherd of his flock…