by PETER GRACE
The biggest group of pilgrims in Rome earlier in February were from the smallest islands, Cardinal Soane Mafi of Tonga told about 1400 people at a special Mass in Mangere on February 25.
Cardinal Soane Mafi ’s hand is kissed as a vast crowd surrounds him after Mass waiting to receive his blessing.
In his homily, Cardinal Mafi, who was elevated to the College of Cardinals in Rome on February 14, spoke of a comment that the Church “is our mother”.
So, in a way, he said, “the pilgrimage we just made is like a journey back to the motherland”.
The announcement in January that he was to be made a cardinal was a huge surprise, he said. But now he was journeying back to his beloved cathedral.
The Mass, at St Therese’s Church, packed the large building. The body of the church, which
holds about 1000, was full about an hour before Mass began. By the time Mass started at 7.10pm, another 300 to 400 were crammed into the foyer, with more outside.
This was a joyous Tongan occasion, with few white faces in evidence.
By the time the cardinal had processed in, there were more than 20 priests on the altar, including Emeritus Bishops Denis Browne, from Hamilton, and Stuart O’Connell, formerly of the Cook Islands.
The singing, 1400 in full voice, was at times spine tingling. The “Holy, holy, holy” alone, with two part male and female harmony, sounded operatic and took an estimated two minutes.
Cardinal Mafi gave his homily in Tongan and English, alternating from one language to the other.
The cardinal said that because the news of his elevation was so special to his family, when his brother and sister came to see him after the announcement, “they came into my office and cried and cried”.
But, he said, after the ceremonies in Rome, Pope Francis gave the new cardinals a good reminder of what it is about.
“It’s a reminder not to have this new responsibility as a privilege or something you have achieved, or a reward. It’s a call to serve others too, to empower others, especially
in the world today.
“To uplift them, the poor, the sick — but we have to be convinced that the Lord is leading,” he said.
The cardinal said he knows himself. “I am weak, I am a sinner.”
This is the answer Pope Francis gave when a journalist asked him, “Who are you?”
“And wasn’t this a great answer?”
As we come into this lenten season, we also have an opportunity to look at this reality, said the cardinal.
“It’s very hard to attempt this in our world today, to admit we are vulnerable people, that we are sinners. We are so ingrained in this world, we control so much. But fundamentally, it is through the cross that we reform ourselves. That’s the meaning of the lenten season,” he said.
The church did not empty out after Mass. Instead, Cardinal Mafi remained standing on the steps to the altar, as most in church formed a vast semi-circle of people waiting to get his personal blessing.
Reader Interactions