Ten church ministers in Fiji have resigned because they do not want to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Others are openly against the vaccine. Rules about vaccination status are being made for church employees. Everyone has a view. There has been pressure on the clergy to get the injections since the Government’s ‘No jab, no job’ Read more
Sexual exploitation of children has become rife in Fiji. And the problem is largely hidden from authorities and the public. These are findings in a joint survey by the NGOs Save the Children, and End Child Prostitution and Trafficking International. A recent UN report also revealed that abuse of children in Fiji is usually performed Read more
Fiji’s archbishop, Peter Loy Chong, says the church has a role in politics. People who think mixing religion with politics is wrong are ‘in denial’, he suggests. Loy Chong – who is the head of the Catholic Church in Fiji – was chief guest the opposition National Federation Party (NFP) Annual General Meeting in Suva Read more
The head of the Fiji Catholic Church has made an apology for the behaviour of Catholic priests, religious and teachers who allegedly abused Fijian children. Archbishop Peter Loy Chong was responding to a news report on TVNZ by pacific correspondent, Barbara Dreaver. For the last year, 1 NEWS has been investigating claims of historic sexual Read more
At the height of his 15-year career as a surgeon in the Pacific nation of Fiji, Dr Jone Hawea was performing eight to 10 diabetes-related operations every day – at least two of which were the amputations of limbs. “Our wards are always full of diabetes cases. Sometimes our surgical wards wouldn’t be able to Read more
Fiji Archbishop, Peter Loy Chong is calling for an Oceania Synod, a “Synod on the ocean”. He made the call while in Rome for the Amazon synod. “The Amazon and its forests are important, but we must not forget how significant the ocean is in the web of life,” Chong told Caritas’ Harriet Paterson and Read more
Fiji’s Archbishop Peter Loy Chong says Fiji is facing several serious concerns caused by environmental degradation. According to a report by the World Bank published in 2000, on the potential effects of climate change on the Pacific region, Fiji faces numerous risks. These include: higher rates of disease as average temperatures rise increasingly destructive storms Read more
Forget about burning them – bras donated by New Zealand women are giving their sisters in the Pacific a new sense of freedom. More than 1500 bras collected by women’s networks in two government departments have been donated to The Uplift Project, supporting women of the Pacific Islands who’ve never owned a bra. The room Read more