Petero Mataca
| Petero Mataca | |
|---|---|
| Born |
28 April 1933 Cawaci, Ovalau, Fiji |
| Died | 30 June 2014 (aged 81) Suva, Fiji |
| Nationality | Fijian |
| Occupation | Archbishop |
| Known for | Fiji's Archbishop |
Petero Mataca (28 April 1933 – 30 June 2014) born at Cawaci, on Ovalau Island, served as the Roman Catholic archbishop of Suva, Fiji until his resignation in 2012.
After his education at St. John's College, Cawaci, he was ordained as a priest on 20 December 1959. He became a Bishop on 3 December 1974 when he was appointed titular bishop of Siminina and auxiliary bishop of Suva; following his appointment as a bishop, he was officially ordained to that position the same year. On 10 April 1976, he was appointed archbishop of Suva. On 19 December 2012, his resignation was accepted by Pope Benedict XVI. He died on 30 June 2014 at the Suva Private Hospital after a long illness.
Mataca has been a critic of some government policies, including its proposal to establish a Reconciliation and Unity Commission with the power, subject to presidential approval, to compensate victims and pardon perpetrators of the 2000 Fijian coup d'état that deposed the elected government of Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry in 2000.
On 22 June 2005, Mataca accused Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase of having misled church leaders about the provisions of the legislation to establish the Commission. Mataca and the leaders of a number of other denominations, he said, had been summoned to the Prime Minister's office on 2 May where they had been told about the bill's reconciliation and compensation provisions, which they had heartily endorsed. Only later, through the media, did they learn about its amnesty provisions.
Mataca said he did not support the concept of amnesty for persons convicted of political crimes. The overthrow of a democratically elected government a serious crime, he said, and "the coup cycle" would continue unless those involved faced the consequences of their crimes. "I publicly appeal to our President, our Prime Minister and the members of our Government to withdraw the Bill until such time as proper consultations can be held and appropriate amendments made," Mataca said. Reconciliation and unity could not come from a politically motivated bill, he warned. On the contrary, he saw reconciliation as a healing process that must start with truth telling, confession of wrongdoing, genuine request for forgiveness and willingness to accept the consequences of one's actions. "It seems ... that the Bill has been hastily put together for political purposes - especially in view of the elections next year," Mataca said. "This is not in the interests of the country and any stubborn effort by the Government to push through this Bill will be counter productive and will threaten Fiji's future stability."
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