King and Queen of Tonga watched on as the first Tongan Cardinal was created

Newly-created Cardinal Soane Patita Paini Mafi of Tonga received the red three-cornered biretta hat from Pope Francis

Among the 20 new Church leaders that Pope Francis made members of the College of Cardinals on Saturday was Bishop Soane Patita Mafi from the Polynesian archipelago of Tonga in the Pacific Ocean. At just 53 years of age, he becomes the youngest member of the College of Cardinals, as well as the first man in the history of this young Church to receive this honour.

He heads a small scattered diocese in a population of about 106,000 people with Catholics making up just 15% but they are very active in the faith. Almost the whole nation is Christian, he said, with Methodists as the majority denomination. Tonga's royal family are also Wesleyan Methodists.

Cardinal Mafi tells Radio Vatican the story of how he met the King and Queen of Tonga for a regular New Year greeting on 1st January and learnt that they were planning a trip to Rome in February. When he heard the news that he had been appointed a member of the College of Cardinals, he realised that the consistory would take place during the same time as their visit, thus they were able to share in the joy and celebration for all the people of the Kingdom of Tonga.

Pope Francis received Their Majesties King Tupou VI of Tonga and Queen Nanasipau’u Tuku’aho in an audience in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican Monday, 17th February 2015.

A statement released by the Vatican’s Press Office said:

His Majesty first expressed his satisfaction at the election of the first Cardinal from the Pacific archipelago, Cardinal Soane Patita Paini Mafi, underlining the enthusiasm of the population and the presence of Her Majesty the Queen and numerous Tongans at the Ordinary Public Consistory held on 14th February. During the cordial discussions, attention was paid to the recent political developments in the country and on a number of aspects of social and economic life, as well as the positive contribution of the Catholic Church in various areas of society. There was subsequently an exchange of opinions on the international situation, with particular reference to the insular States of the Pacific and the environmental problems that some of them are compelled to face.

Pope Francis meets Their Majesties King Tupou VI and Queen Nanasipau’u Tuku’aho of Tonga

Prince Richard, son of former Australian Governor-General, turns 70

HRH Prince Richard, 2nd Duke of Gloucester

Born Prince Richard of Gloucester on 26th August 1944 at Northampton, he was christened Richard Alexander Walter George. When he was four months old he was taken by his parents to Australia, where his father, Prince Henry, The Duke of Gloucester, was Governor-General from 30th January 1945 to 11th March 1947. The Duke of Gloucester is the second son of the late Duke of Gloucester and the late Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester (third daughter of the 7th Duke of Buccleuch). His elder brother, Prince William, died in a tragic flying accident on 28 August 1972. Prince Richard inherited the title Duke of Gloucester on his father's death on 10th June 1974.

The Duke is 23rd in line to the throne, and is the first person in line who is not a direct descendent of King George VI; his father was Prince Henry, The Duke of Gloucester, younger brother to King Edward VIII and King George VI; this also makes him the youngest grandchild of King George V, the eldest being Queen Elizabeth.

HRH The Duke of Gloucester opened the Linburn Centre for Scottish War Blinded in 2011

After spending his childhood years in Australia, The Duke of Gloucester has constantly returned to Australia. In 2012 he attended the Grand Council Meeting at the Shangri-La Sydney, the Rocks, Sydney, as the Grand Prior of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem.

His Royal Highness, who is Patron  of the Nuffield Farming Scholarships Trust, met Nuffield Australia Farming Scholars in Sydney. The charity organisation provides a scholarship scheme for the benefit of the Australian farming community.

On 26th May 2012 The Duke of Gloucester presented the Duke of Gloucester Cup to the 2nd Battalion The Royal Australian Regiment at Victoria Barracks, Oxford Street, Sydney, New South Wales.

The Duke of Gloucester Cup

The Duke of Gloucester Cup, the three awards are presented to the most efficient infantry battalion of the Australian Army, ship of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), and squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during the previous year. The awards were created by HRH Prince Henry, The Duke of Gloucester in 1946, while he was serving as the Governor-General of Australia, and were first presented in 1947. The RAAF's Gloucester Cup recognises the most proficient flying squadron during a calendar year.

In January 2009 The Duke of Gloucester paid a visit to Melbourne,Victoria, and attended a Lecture at the Royal Society of Victoria  followed by a Reception to commemorate the Centenary of Ernest Shackleton’s Expedition’s location of the South Magnetic Pole. The Duke of Gloucester crossed the South Magnetic Pole, Antarctica, to commemorate the Centenary of the first location of the South Magnetic Pole by the Northern Party of Ernest Shackleton’s British Antarctic Expedition of 1907-1909.

The Royal Society of Victoria had offered the flyover of the South Magnetic Pole, Antarctica, 100 years after it was first positioned by a party of Australians, Edgeworth David and Douglas Mawson and Scotsman Alistair Mackay, members of Shackleton’s British Antarctic Expedition 1907-1909.

Royal Duties
Prince Richard is President of Cancer Research UK, as well as The National Association of Clubs for Young People, and is a patron of British Association of Friends of Museums, Richard III Society and Normandy Veterans Association.

TRH The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester represented Her Majesty The Queen at the Mass for the Inauguration of Pope Francis’ Pontificate on 19th March 2013. They also attended the Beatification Mass for Pope John Paul II on 1st May 2011.

At the inauguration of Pope Francis I The Duke and the Duchess of Gloucester represented The Queen.

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan awaits the Pope

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

POPE FRANCIS'  PILGRIMAGE TO THE HOLY LAND ON THE OCCASION OF THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MEETING BETWEEN POPE PAUL VI AND PATRIARCH ATHENAGORAS IN  JERUSALEM

Saturday, 24 May 2014

Rome

08:15	Departure from Rome's Fiumicino airport for Amman
13:00	Arrival at the Amman Queen Alia International Airport
13:45	Welcoming ceremony in the Al-Husseini Royal Palace in Amman
	Courtesy visit to Their Majesties the King and Queen of Jordan
14:20	Meeting with the Authorities of the Kingdom of Jordan	Address of the Holy Father
16:00	Holy Mass at the Amman International Stadium	Homily of the Holy Father
19:00	Visit to the Baptismal Site at Bethany beyond the Jordan
19:15	Meeting with refugees and young people with disabilities in the Latin Church in Bethany beyond the Jordan	Address of the Holy Father

Sunday, 25 May 2014

08:15	Farewell from Jordan at the Amman Queen Alia International Airport
08:30	Departure by helicopter for Bethlehem from the Amman Queen Alia International Airport
09:20	Arrival at the Bethlehem Heliport
09:30	Welcoming ceremony in the Presidential Palace in Bethlehem
	Courtesy visit to the President of the State of Palestine
10:00	Meeting with Palestinian Authorities	Address of the Holy Father
11:00	Holy Mass in Manger Square in Bethlehem	Homily of the Holy Father
	Regina Coeli Prayer	Address of the Holy Father
13:30	Lunch with Palestinian families in the Franciscan Convent of Casa Nova in Bethlehem
15:00	Private visit to the Grotto of the Nativity in Bethlehem
15:20	Greeting of the children from the Dheisheh, Aida and Beit Jibrin refugee camps in the Phoenix Center of the Dheisheh refugee camp
15:45	Farewell from the State of Palestine at the Bethlehem Heliport
16:00	Departure by helicopter from the Bethlehem Heliport for the Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport
16:30	Welcoming ceremony at the Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport	Address of the Holy Father
17:15	Transfer by helicopter to Jerusalem
17:45	Arrival at the Jerusalem Helipad on Mount Scopus
18:15	Private Meeting with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople at the Apostolic Delegation of Jerusalem	Signing of a joint declaration
19:00	Ecumenical Celebration on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the meeting in Jerusalem between Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras  in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre	Address of the Holy Father
20:15	Dinner with the Patriarchs, Bishops and the Papal Entourage at the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem

Monday, 26 May 2014

08:15	Visit to the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem in the building of the Great Council on the Esplanade of the Mosques	Address of the Holy Father
09:10	Visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem
09:45	Laying of a wreath at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem
10:00	Visit to the Yad Vashem Memorial in Jerusalem	Address of the Holy Father
10:45	Courtesy visit to the two chief rabbis of Israel at Heichal Shlomo Center in Jerusalem, next to the Jerusalem Great Synagogue	Address of the Holy Father
11:45	Courtesy visit to the President of the State of Israel in the Presidential Residence in Jerusalem	Address of the Holy Father
13:00	Private audience with the Prime Minister of Israel at Notre Dame Center in Jerusalem
13:30	Lunch with the Papal Entourage at Notre Dame Center in Jerusalem
15:30	Private visit to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in the building next to the Orthodox Church of Viri Galileai on the Mount of Olives
16:00	Meeting with priests, religious and seminarians in the Church of Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives	Address of the Holy Father
17:20	Holy Mass with the Ordinaries of the Holy Land and the Papal Entourage in the room of the Cenacle in Jerusalem	Homily of the Holy Father
19:30	Transfer from the helipad of Mount Scopus in Jerusalem to the Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport
20:00	Farewell from the State of Israel at the Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport
20:15	Departure from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv for Rome's Ciampino Airport
23:00	Arrival at Ciampino Airport in Rome

Pope Francis received the King and Queen of Jordan

Pope Francis and the Jordanian sovereigns.

On the morning of 29th August 2013 Pope Francis received their Majesties the King Abdullah II of Jordan and Queen Rania. Later, the Hashemite sovereign met with His Eminence Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of State, who was accompanied by Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Secretary for Relations with States.

King Abdullah II, Queen Rania and Pope Francis.

Several themes of common interest were addressed during the course of the cordial encounter, most importantly the promotion of peace and stability in the Middle East, with a particular focus on the restarting of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, and on the question of Jerusalem. Special attention was reserved for the tragic situation in which Syria finds itself. In this regard, it was reaffirmed that the path of dialogue and negotiation between all components of Syrian society, with the support of the international community, is the only option to put an end to the conflict and to the violence that every day causes the loss of so many human lives, especially amongst the helpless civilian population.

Appreciation was also expressed for King Abdullah’s commitment in the field of interreligious dialogue and for the initiative of convening a conference in Amman, at the beginning of the month of September, on the challenges that Christians in the Middle East will have to face, in particular during this period of socio-political transformations. Finally, recognition was expressed for the positive contribution that Christian communities bring to the local society, of which they are an integral part.

The Jordanian Queen wore a white veil. According to the Vatican customs, only Catholic Queens or monarchs may wear white veils for an audience with the Pope. When Queen Elizabeth II paid a visit to the late John Paul II she wore a black veil. In her typical style, Cherie Blair wore a white veil. Although a Catholic, she was not a head of state nor was her husband, then Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Queen Elizabeth II wore black, when she was received by Pope John Paul II in 2000.