Cardinal from Tonga puts the ‘Catholic’ back in Church

[rug]

Bishop Soane Patita Paini Mafi met Pope Francis at the Synod of Bishops in last October. (Photo courtesy of Conferentia Episcopalis Pacifici)

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor | February 12, 2015

ROME — Picking new cardinals is one way for popes to make statements, and this time Francis clearly seems to be saying something about the global realities of Catholicism. On Saturday he’ll induct 20 cardinals who literally come from all over the map — Myanmar, for instance, and Cape Verde, and Vietnam.

Even on that roster, however, pride of place for most improbable setting for a new Prince of the Church has to go to the Pacific nation of Tonga, composed of 176 islands and just 100,000 people, only 15,000 of them Catholic.

To get a sense of how far off the beaten path it lies, consider that Soane Patita Paini Mafi, the country’s fourth-ever Catholic bishop and now its first cardinal, had to travel almost 11,000 miles via four airplane connections to arrive in Rome for his big day.

Lifting up a cardinal from such a locale is clearly a way for Francis to emphasize the root meaning of Catholic: “universal.”

http://www.cruxnow.com/church/2015/02/12/cardinal-from-tonga-puts-the-catholic-back-in-church/