Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Honiara Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Honiara The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Honiara is a Latin Rite Metropolitan Archdiocese in the Solomon Islands. It is the latter day successor of the Prefecture Apostolic of the English Solomon Islands, which was erected in 1897. The Province of Honiara was created in 1978, the first such creation of Pope John Paul II, and has two suffragan sees: Gizo (1966, formerly the Vicariate Apostolic of Western Solomon Islands) and Auki (1982). Holy Cross Cathedral, Honiara, on the island of Guadalcanal, is the seat of the Metropolitan See. It was dedicated on 17 September 1978 by
Honiara the local Guadalcanal islanders. A coup attempt occurred in June 2000 which resulted in violent rebellions and fighting between the Malaita Eagle Force (MEF) and the Guadalcanal natives of the Isatabu Freedom Movement (IFM). Violence was prevalent in the streets of Honiara, and although a peace agreement was made in October 2000, violence ensued in March 2002 when two diplomats from New Zealand and numerous others were murdered. Conditions became so bad in Honiara that in July 2003 Australian military and police units moved into the country to suppress the conflict, increase security, rebuild the damaged city and safeguard its