“Let us ask ourselves if we are parlour Christians, who love to chat about how things are going in the Church and the world, or apostles on the go, who confess Jesus with their lives because they hold Him in their hearts”. This is what Pope Francis proposed during the homily he delivered this morning in St Peter’s Square on the Solemnity of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. The Holy Father will bless the pallia taken from the Confession of the Apostle Peter for the new Metropolitan Archbishops appointed during the year. The pallium will then be imposed on each Metropolitan Archbishop by the Pontifical Representative in the respective Metropolitan See. “Those who confess Jesus – the Pope said – know that they are not simply to offer opinions but to offer their very lives. They know that they are not to believe half-heartedly but to ‘be on fire’ with love. They know that they cannot just ‘tread water’ or take the easy way out, but have to risk putting out into the deep, daily renewing their self-offering. Those who confess their faith in Jesus do as Peter and Paul did: they follow Him to the end – not just part of the way, but to the very end. They also follow the Lord along His way, not our own ways. His way is that of new life, of joy and resurrection; it is also the way that passes through the cross and persecution”.