Pope Francis has no one in his small circle of advisors, known as the Council of Cardinals, who is from Oceania.
While the other continents have a seat in the seven-member kitchen cabinet or C7, Oceania s chair has been empty since October 2018. That s when the pope thanked Australian Cardinal George Pell for his services and removed him from the group.
There are three cardinals from Oceania who are all still under the age of 80 that could have easily taken the place of Pell John Dew of New Zealand, John Ribat of Papua New Guinea and Soane Patita Mafi of Tonga.