Eight African clergymen are among 41 newly appointed archbishops from around the world who will receive the special insignia of their status, called the pallium, at a ceremony presided over by the pope on Sunday.

The prelates are Cardinal John Njue of Nairobi and Archbishop Peter Kairo of Nyeri (Kenya) and Archbishops Richard Anthony Burke of Benin City and Matthew Man-Oso Ndagoso of Kaduna (Nigeria).

The others are Archbishops Michel Christian Cartatéguy of Niamey (Niger), Thomas Kwaku Mensah of Kumasi (Ghana) and Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of Kinshasa (DR Congo).

Archbishop Edward Tamba Charles of Freetown and Bo (Sierra Leone) will not travel to Rome for the ceremony, but will receive the pallium at home.

The pallium, a thin white woolen strip, decorated by six black crosses and worn around the shoulders, symbolizes the authority of a metropolitan archbishop and his communion with the Holy See.

Traditionally the vestment is conferred each year, on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, to all of the prelates who reached the status of metropolitan archbishops during the preceding year.

The vestment is made from wool that is shorn from lambs that are blessed by the pope on the feast of St. Agnes, Jan. 21.