Petero Mataca

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.

Biography After his education at St. John's College, Cawaci, he was ordained as a priest on 20 December 1959. He was named 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 consecrated the same year. On 10 April 1976, he was appointed archbishop of Suva. He resigned in July 2009 when he reached the age of 75, but could not step down until a successor was appointed. 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.

Political positions Mataca was 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 that such a stance was hypocritical, as the organizations had failed to condemn the previous coup of 2000. In a letter to the Fiji Sun on 10 December, he condemned the coup, but also claimed that the government had pursued policies that had led to it. He later collaborated with the military regime, serving as co-chairman, along with Commodore Bainimarama, of the National Council for Building a Better Fiji.

Social views On 6 January 2006, the Fiji Sun quoted Mataca as calling on people to "respect, protect, and preserve" family values. He condemned Fiji's high divorce rate, and criticized legislation which facilitated it.

Death Mataca died at the Suva Private Hospital after a long illness on 30 June 2014.