Tongans will be able to watch Bishop Soane Patita Paini Mafi receive his red hat on local TV.
Digi TV will carry the event live.
Coverage of the consistory will begin at 11pm on February 14.
The Mass with the Pope and the new cardinals will begin at 10pm on February 15
Mafi is Tonga’s first ever Cardinal.
At 53 he will become the youngest member of the College of Cardinals and will be able to vote in the election of new Popes until 2042.
Mafi describes the role as another level of calling and says he is preparing for a lot of travel to Rome.
“It’s a challenge certainly and to me it’s an opportunity too – to learn and work together with others within the Cardinal Council. Yes, it is a heavy responsibility.”
Tonga’s King Tupou VI and Queen Nanasipau’u will also be in Rome this coming weekend.
It is understood that the Queen may attend the ceremonies for the Cardinals.
The King is there to make an address at the 38th Session of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Governing Council on Monday.
Cardinal Mafi is expected to return to Nuku’alofa on February 26.
The Catholic Church is planning to celebrate with traditional feasting and dancing in Nuku’alofa.
The celebration will be held off till after Lent and will take place on April 11.
Mafi was born in Tonga in 1961, and ordained a priest in June 1991.
He served in Church leadership roles in two Tonga parishes before enrolling in Loyola’s pastoral counseling program in 1998.
He then returned to Tonga to become a parish priest in a village on the Tonga’s largest island.
Later he served as a professor, trainer, and vice-rector at the Pacific Regional Seminar in Fiji.
He was appointed coadjutor bishop of Tonga in June 2007 and became the country’s lone bishop in April 2008.
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