His Excellency, The Most Reverend

Alapati Lui Mataeliga
Archbishop of Samoa-Apia
Ecclesiastical Superior of Tokelau
ArchdioceseSamoa-Apia
Appointed16 November 2002
Installed3 January 2003
Term ended25 April 2023
PredecessorPio Taofinu'u
SuccessorVacant
Orders
Ordination5 July 1977
by Pio Taofinu'u
Consecration3 January 2003
by Patrick Coveney, Petero Mataca, and Soane Lilo Foliaki
Personal details
Born(1953-01-04)4 January 1953[1]
Sataua, Western Samoa Trust Territory (now Samoa)
Died25 April 2023(2023-04-25) (aged 70)[2]
Auckland, New Zealand
ParentsLauiliu Utu Vaoliko Mata'eliga (mother) and Vaoliko Sui Panitaleo Mata'eliga (father)
Styles of
Alapati Lui Mataeliga
Reference style
Spoken styleYour Excellency
Religious styleArchbishop

Alapati Lui Mataeliga (4 January 1953 – 25 April 2023) was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Samoa-Apia and Ecclesiastical Superior of the Mission sui iuris of Tokelau. He was born in Sataua on the island of Savai'i.[1] He was ordained for the presbyterate of the Diocese of Samoa and Tokelau on 5 July 1977.[1] Upon the retirement of Cardinal Pio Taofinu'u, Father Mataeliga was appointed by the Holy See as the second Archbishop of Samoa-Apia on 16 November 2002.[1] He was consecrated to the episcopate and installed as ordinary by Archbishop Patrick Coveney, Apostolic Nuncio to Samoa, on 3 January 2003.[1]

On 31 May 2021, during the 2021 Samoan constitutional crisis, Alapati denounced the caretaker prime minister Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi for ignoring the courts and refusing to yield power.[3] In the aftermath of the crisis, when the FAST government was refusing to allow opposition MPs to be sworn into parliament, Alapati performed an ifoga outside the Legislative Assembly of Samoa in order to seek peace.[4]

Mataeliga died in Auckland, New Zealand on 25 April 2023, at the age of 70.[2]

References

Wikiquote has quotations related to Alapati Lui Mataeliga.
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Archbishop Alapati Lui Mata'eliga [Catholic-Hierarchy]". catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  2. 1 2 Sialai Sarafina Sanerivi (25 April 2023). "Archbishop Mataeliga passes away". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  3. ↑ Joyetter Feagaimaali'i (1 June 2021). ""Your time is done": Archbishop to caretaker P.M. Tuilaepa". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  4. ↑ Marc Membrere (16 September 2021). "Archbishop joins ifoga; asks Govt. for peace". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 17 September 2021.


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