Pope Benedict XVI consecrated 34 Roman Catholic archbishops yesterday, including the new head of the Roman Catholic Church in Britain and the prelate of New York, at a solemn ceremony in St Peter's Basilica.

The Pope laid the symbolic pallium vestment, a symbol of their new office, on the shoulders of Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York and Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols, the new head of the Catholic Church in Britain.

They were among 34 metropolitan archbishops from 20 countries elevated by the pope at the special ceremony on the Catholic feast day of Saints Peter and Paul.

In his homily, the Pope said he hoped the new archbishops would "show the way and conserve the unity of their flocks."

Among those receiving the pallium from Pope Benedict were Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki, the new archbishop of Lviv in Ukraine - a former aide to his predecessor John Paul II - and Ghaleb Moussa Abdallah Bader, the archbishop of Algiers.

The pallium, a woven band of white lambs' wool decorated with black crosses, is a traditional symbol of their authority and their responsibility as shepherds of the Catholic flock.

Later Monday, Benedict signed his latest encyclical Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth), a letter to all the bishops of the Church, which is to be devoted to the global economy. It is expected to be published next month.