Cardinal Soane Mafi
The diocese will host a Mass of Thanksgiving with Tonga’s first cardinal, Cardinal Soane Mafi, at 10 a.m., Jan. 16 at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa in Honolulu.
Bishop Mafi, 54, was the youngest of 20 new cardinals Pope Francis named last Feb. 14.
Born in Nukualofa, Tonga, Dec. 19, 1961, Soane Patita Paini Mafi in 2008 became the first diocesan priest to be named bishop of Tonga, an island nation about 3,000 miles southwest of Hawaii with about 17,000 Catholics.