Pacific cardinal says his Pope vote will consider Catholics in PNG, Solomon Islands
Photo:
Archdiocese of Suva
Papua New Guinea's Catholic Church cardinal says he will have his region's interests in mind when he votes for the new pope.
The Vatican
has announced the eligible cardinals to vote for the replacement for the late Pope Francis will meet starting on 7 May
inside the Sistine Chapel, in the Apostolic Palace, the pope's official residence in Vatican City.
Only cardinals under the age of 80 are allowed to vote, although they can take part in the conclave. There are currently 252 cardinals, 138 of whom are cardinal electors.
Two of these are from Pacific islands - Archbishop of Port Moresby, Cardinal Sir John Ribat representing the PNG and Solomon Islands Bishop Conference, and Cardinal Soane Mafi, Bishop of Tonga and Niue.
Cardinal Sir John Ribat told the
Post Courier
newspaper his vote will be for the interest of five million Catholics around Papua New Guinea and one million Catholics in Solomon Islands.
Read more:
The previous two conclaves, held in 2005 and 2013, each lasted two days.
But Swedish cardinal Anders Arborelius said the coming ballot may take longer, as many of the cardinals appointed by Pope Francis have never met each other.
New Zealand's cardinal, John Dew
, said the next pope would need to be a leader in terms of faith and living the gospel himself, and someone who encouraged others to live the gospel.
"It's a bit daunting to think I'll be going into the conclave to be part of the process of electing a new pope, but I also know that I and everybody else is really supported by the prayers from all around the world, so that's very much appreciated."
The word conclave comes from the Latin, cum clave, meaning 'with a key'.
The cardinals meet in the Sistine Chapel and vote by secret ballot until a candidate is selected. A two-thirds majority vote is required. Pope Francis was elected on the fifth ballot.
One ballot is held on the first day of the conclave and four on each subsequent day - two in the morning and two in the afternoon.
Immediately after the count, the ballots and all related notes are burned in a stove in the chapel.
The coffin of Pope Francis is seen in front of the Colosseum as it is transported from St Peter's Basilica to Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica, after a funeral mass in Rome on 26 April, 2025.
Photo:
AFP/ Stefano Rellandini
The colour of the smoke from a chimney enables the crowd in St Peter's Square to know if a result has been confirmed or not.
When no one has received the required majority the smoke is black. A successful candidate gets white smoke.
The bells of St Peter's Basilica will also peal when a new pope is elected.
The man elected by his fellow cardinals is asked, does he accept the position. If he does, then a senior cardinal will appear on the balcony overlooking the square and says to the crowd, "Habemus papam" - 'we have a pope'.
Soon after that the new pope appears and blesses the crowd, and an inauguration ceremony usually takes place a few days later.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Herald
4 days ago
- NZ Herald
Pope Francis used to nightly call the Church of the Holy Family and priest Gabriel Romanelli
'Israel deeply regrets that a stray ammunition hit Gaza's Holy Family Church. Every innocent life lost is a tragedy,' Netanyahu said in a statement. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump had called Netanyahu after having 'not a positive reaction' to news of the strike. 'It was a mistake by the Israelis to hit that Catholic church, that's what the Prime Minister relayed to the President,' she said. AFP images showed the injured being treated at Gaza City's Al-Ahli Hospital, also known as the Baptist Hospital, with one receiving oxygen and blood while lying under a foil blanket. Father Romanelli could be seen with a bandage around his lower leg. Mourners knelt next to two white body bags laid out on the floor. 'In the morning a tank shell targeted us and hit the church, and a number of civilians were killed and wounded,' said Shadi Abu Daoud, a displaced man whose 70-year-old mother was killed in the strike. Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal confirmed the deaths at the church. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, told Vatican News: 'What we know for sure is that a tank, the IDF [Israeli military] says by mistake, but we are not sure about this, they hit the church directly'. 'Serious act' The patriarchate, which has jurisdiction for Catholics in Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Jordan and Cyprus, said it 'strongly condemns this strike and this targeting of innocent civilians'. The site was sheltering around 600 displaced people, the majority of them children and 54 with special needs. 'The people in the Holy Family Compound are people who found in the church a sanctuary -- hoping that the horrors of war might at least spare their lives, after their homes, possessions and dignity had already been stripped away,' it said in a statement. Foreign leaders, including from France and Italy, called the attack 'unacceptable'. Gaza's civil defence agency reported that Israeli strikes elsewhere across the Palestinian territory killed at least 22 people today. Out of the Gaza Strip's population of more than two million, about 1000 are Christians. Most of them are Orthodox but according to the Latin Patriarchate, there are about 135 Catholics in the territory. Pope Francis had repeatedly called for an end to the Gaza war, condemning in his final Easter message a day before his death the 'deplorable humanitarian situation' in the Palestinian territory. 'Totally unacceptable' Monsignor Pascal Gollnisch, the head of Catholic charity l'Oeuvre d'Orient, told AFP the raid was 'totally unacceptable'. 'It is a place of worship. It is a Catholic church known for its peaceful attitude, for being a peacemaker. These are people who are at the service of the population,' he said. 'There was no strategic objective, there were no jihadists in this church. There were families, there were civilians.' More than 21 months of war have created dire humanitarian conditions for Gaza's population, displacing most residents at least once and triggering severe shortages of food and other essentials. The war was triggered by the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 58,667 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency and other parties. -Agence France-Presse
The Spinoff
4 days ago
- The Spinoff
David Seymour blames karakia for high power bills. Here's what he gets wrong
In a speech this morning, the deputy prime minister said 'blaming isn't productive', then proceeded to link 'roadblocks' such as cultural clauses in resource consents to rates rises leading to high inflation. Liam Rātana takes a different view. This morning, speaking at the 2025 Local Government New Zealand Conference, deputy prime minister David Seymour told a room full of local government workers that karakia and cultural impact assessments were part of the reason why power prices and food bills were high. He prefaced this by stating 'blaming isn't productive'. What followed was a barrage of finger pointing and blame-shifting. Rates increases – mostly attributable to a need for local councils to address central government's underinvestment on critical infrastructure – were picked as a key driver of inflation. In what was a confused speech, Seymour also acknowledged many of the costs facing councils weren't of their own making. What really caught my attention, though, was Seymour's plan for council and communities – particularly the point on reform of the Resource Management Act. It was here Seymour took his chance to criticise his own culture: 'You and your ratepayers want renewable energy but the consenting process demands ceremonial chanting and spreadsheet-level detail about every shrub on site.' Seymour was referring to a clause included in a resource consent granted by Central Hawke's Bay District Council to Centralines Limited for the construction of a solar farm in Ongaonga. The 'demand' for ceremonial chanting cited by Seymour refers to a clause in the resource consent stating: 'The consent holder shall invite mana whenua to perform karakia for any native trees or plants that need to be removed from the site.' This consent also included a construction condition that states the consent holder must invite mana whenua at least 10 working days prior to the commencement of any works to perform a pre-construction karakia. A similar clause in a resource consent granted to Swedish furniture giant Ikea for the construction of its store in Sylvia Park was referred to by Seymour. In this instance, the consent stated: 'The consent holder must invite representatives of mana whenua groups… to undertake cultural monitoring, karakia and other such cultural ceremonies on the site' for the pre-start meeting, commencement of earthworks, and immediately prior to the completion of bulk earthworks across the site. While highlighting these clauses as unnecessary 'red tape' and 'roadblocks', Seymour says his changes will put 'power back with communities'. I wonder which communities he's talking about? From the resource consent for IKEA in Sylvia Park. This is the kind of fluff that ties up consenting processes and makes everything we do slow and costly in New Zealand. — Simon Court (@SimonCourtACT) June 27, 2025 A spokesperson for an energy company who was involved with a similar solar project said the clauses Seymour was referring to were 'pretty normal' and if companies want to create strong relationships in development projects, they put in place these types of conditions through mutual agreement. For the project this company was involved with, the spokesperson said their company had actually requested mana whenua be onsite weekly to provide cultural monitoring and build cultural capacity of the site team. 'If the developers weren't happy with this decision, they would have an opportunity to raise this during the resource consent application process, and if it wasn't resolved during that process then they can appeal the decision,' the spokesperson said. In the case of the resource consents granted to both Ikea and Centralines Limited, the requirement is to simply extend an invite to mana whenua representatives in advance of milestone dates that are normally identified well before the day. On a practical level, it's as simple as making a phone call or sending an email. If there's no response received, the work goes ahead. I can almost guarantee mana whenua will not be there to perform a karakia for the removal of every native tree, nor will the companies be cutting them so regularly that they need to extend an invite to mana whenua every other day. The most likely scenario is that a number of trees will be identified well in advance, an invitation to mana whenua extended, and a single karakia performed for several trees prior to their removal. If mana whenua representatives do wish to conduct a karakia or a similar ceremony, the whole process would normally take no longer than an hour or two, at most. It is misleading for the deputy prime minister to claim these are the roadblocks halting development and hiking the price of energy and food. Besides karakia, Seymour also attacked cultural impact assessments. These are often provided by mana whenua for consent applications or works involving sites of cultural significance. The reports document the cultural values, interests and associations mana whenua have with an area or a resource, and the potential impacts of a proposed activity on these. Seymour's criticism of cultural impact assessments made me wonder just how many he has actually been a part of. Perhaps the minister of regulation's negative perspective of these reports is due to a lack of understanding or lived experience. In a previous job, I was privileged enough to be part of training mana whenua to carry out cultural impact assessments and took part in the drafting of some reports too. Contrary to Seymour's belief, these assessments aren't some prohibitive cultural gobbledygook. While they aren't always a statutory requirement for resource consent applications, these reports can serve an important role in meeting legal obligations – particularly under the Resource Management Act. Importantly, cultural impact assessments also help to foster stronger relationships and better communication between applicants and tangata whenua, and help identify potential adverse effects early. Seymour's criticisms reminded me of a pūrākau about the story of Rata, a chief from Savai'i in Samoa who is attributed with the construction of the waka we know today as the Takitimu. The story goes that Rata was eager to construct a waka, so he ventured high into the mountains and found the two best trees for his waka. Rata cut down the trees, only to return the next day to find them standing. This happened multiple times before Rata finally learned that the children of Tāne were reassembling the trees in the night because Rata had not given thanks or performed the correct incantations. For Seymour and his supporters, this might be a pointless tale of folklore but for me, it's a reminder that tikanga Māori was here in Aotearoa long before resource consent applications and cultural impact assessment reports.
Scoop
08-07-2025
- Scoop
Nelson-founded Charity Screening Movie To Raise Awareness Of Child Exploitation
The Saint Nicholas Children's Trust, a New Zealand-based charity, is hosting a special screening of the film Sound of Freedom to raise awareness about child sexual exploitation. On Thursday July 10, the Saint Nicholas Children's Trust, in partnership with Whakatū Rotary, will host the screening at the Suter Theatre in Nelson. In Sound of Freedom, a former US government agent embarks on a mission to rescue children from sex traffickers in Colombia. The movie was made as a call to action against human trafficking and was loosely based on a true story. "At the Saint Nicholas Children's Trust we work tirelessly in our pursuit of raising awareness of child sexual exploitation," says Angela Francis, the charity's founder and chair. "The Sound of Freedom is a confronting film which makes us consider the reality of what is happening every day around the world - thousands of children are being exploited." Proceeds from the screening will support the Trust's ongoing efforts to educate and advocate for change - locally and globally. Francis says the Trust is thrilled to welcome Nelson City Councillor Trudie Brand and Nelson MP Rachel Boyack, who will attend the event. Brand says: "Alongside the Nelson City Council's Mayor's office, I proudly support Saint Nicholas Children's Trust in their vital work to raise awareness and take positive steps to protect our tamariki from child sexual exploitation". "Together we are building a safer future for every child in our community." Boyack notes: "Distressingly, child sexual exploitation happens in New Zealand too". "We should do all we can, as a community and as a nation, to shine a light on this abhorrent practice, and to put the resources in to end child sexual exploitation, here in New Zealand and across the globe." The screening follows the charity's launch earlier this year, which drew support from other local leaders including Nelson Mayor Nick Smith and Maungakiekie MP Greg Fleming. Supporters wore masks to symbolise the children who are sexually exploited without the ability to speak up for themselves and conducted a silent march through Nelson's town centre. More information on the Saint Nicholas Children's Trust can be found on our website:
