Pio Taofinu'u

Pio Cardinal Taofinu'u SM (born December 8, 1923 in Falealupo , Western Samoa , † January 19, 2006 in Apia ) was Roman Catholic Archbishop of Samoa-Apia .

Life

PIO TAOFINU'U studied at the Seminary of Wallis Iceland and the Marist Fathers in Green Meadows , New Zealand , philosophy and Catholic theology . He received the sacrament of ordination on December 8, 1954 and subsequently worked in parish ministry before entering the Marist Order and completing his novitiate in New York City .

On his return from the United States he became Episcopal Vicar and in 1966 Vicar General of the newly established Diocese of Apia. In 1968 Pope Paul VI appointed him . to the bishop of Apia. Pio Taofinu'u became the first Polynesian bishop in church history. The episcopal ordination donated him George Hamilton Pearce , Archbishop of Suva ; Co- consecrators were John Hubert Macey Rodgers , Bishop of Tonga , and Brian Patrick Ashby , Bishop of Christchurch .

On March 5, 1973 Paul VI took him. as a cardinal priest with the titular church Sant'Onofrio in the college of cardinals . Cardinal Taofinu'u attended the August Conclave and the October 1978 Conclave .

Taofinu'u founded numerous schools and campaigned for the improvement of living conditions in the lower social classes.

In 1982 he became Archbishop of Samoa-Apia and Tokelau and held this office until his retirement in 2002. It was important to him that his local church , which was founded thanks to the missionaries , became missionary in turn. Therefore, in the 1990s, he sent nuns of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Nazareth and Fidei Donum priests of his archdiocese to the newly founded Apostolic Vicariate of Mandeville in Jamaica.

At the 2005 conclave , in which Benedict XVI. was elected, he did not take part because at that time he had already exceeded the maximum age of 80 years for active papal suffrage.

Web links

• Taofinu'u, SM, Pio. In: Salvador Miranda : The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. ( Florida International University website), accessed October 26, 2016.
• Entry on Pio Taofinu'u on catholic-hierarchy.org ; Retrieved October 26, 2016.

predecessor	Office	successor
George Hamilton Pearce SM	Bishop of Samoa-Apia 1968–1982	Bishopric raised to the archbishopric
Mission sui juris newly founded	Superior of Funafuti 1982–1985	John Hubert Macey Rodgers SM
Archdiocese raised again	Archbishop of Samoa-Apia 1982-2002	Alapati Lui Mataeliga