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Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi

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His Eminence

Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi

S.V.D.
Cardinal, Archbishop of Tokyo
President of Caritas International
Kikuchi in 2024
Native name
菊地 功[citation needed]
ChurchCatholic Church
ArchdioceseTokyo
SeeTokyo
Appointed25 October 2017
Installed16 December 2017
PredecessorPeter Takeo Okada
Other post(s)Cardinal-Priest of San Giovanni Leonardi [it] (2024-)
Previous post(s)
Orders
Ordination15 March 1986
by Aloysius Nobuo Soma
Consecration20 September 2004
by Peter Takeo Okada
Created cardinal7 December 2024
by Pope Francis
RankCardinal-Priest
Personal details
Born
Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi

(1958-11-01) 1 November 1958 (age 66)
Miyako, Iwate, Japan
Motto
  • Varietate unitas
  • (Unity in Diversity)
  • (多様性の中の統一)[citation needed]
  • (Tayō-sei no naka no tōitsu)
[citation needed]
Coat of arms
Styles of
Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi
Reference styleHis Eminence
Spoken styleYour Eminence
Informal styleCardinal
SeeTokyo
Ordination history of
Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi
History
Priestly ordination
Ordained byAloysius Nobuo Soma (Nagoya)
Date27 February 1982
PlaceNagoya
Episcopal consecration
Principal consecratorPeter Takeo Okada
Co-consecrators
( Saitama)
Date12 December 2001
Cardinalate
Date8 December 2024
Episcopal succession
Bishops consecrated by Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi as principal consecrator
Mario Michiaki Yamanouchi, S.D.B.24 September 2018
Paul Daisuke Narui, S.V.D.22 September 2020
Edgar Gacutan, C.I.C.M.19 March 2022

Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi, SVD (菊地 功[citation needed], born 1 November 1958) is a Japanese Catholic prelate who has served as Archbishop of Tokyo since 2017 and president of Caritas Internationalis since May 2023. He was Bishop of Niigata from 2004 to 2017. He previously worked as a missionary in Ghana. He is a member of the Divine Word Missionaries.

Kikuchi has served as president of Caritas Japan and Caritas Asia, as well a member of the Representative Council of Caritas Internationalis. He was made a cardinal on 7 December 2024 by Pope Francis.

Biography

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Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi was born in Iwate on 1 November 1958.[1] He studied for the priesthood in Japan and took his vows as a member of the Divine Word Missionaries (the "Verbiti" or "Verbites") in March 1985[2] and he was ordained a priest on 15 March 1986.[1] He did additional studies at the Spiritual Institute of Sacred Heart in Melbourne.[2]

From 1986 to 1992 he worked as a missionary in Ghana in the Archdiocese of Accra and the Diocese of Koforidua,[2] working as a parish priest in rural areas.[3] He returned to Japan and served his order as formator, vice prefect of novices, and vocations director for a year and then as its provincial councilor from 1994 to 1999, taking on several additional roles. Beginning in 1994 he also began teaching at Nanzan University and became a member of the International Aid Committee of the Japanese Bishops Conference. He became coordinator of his order's Office of Justice and Peace for Asia in 1996. He became a member of Caritas Japan in 1998 and began representing the Japanese bishops at international conferences in 1998.[2]

He served as executive director of Caritas Japan from 1999 to 2004, after first gaining experience with that organization as a volunteer in the refugee camp in Bukavu (then in Zaire, now in the Democratic Republic of the Congo) in the 1990s.[4] Kikuchi was elected provincial of his order's Japanese province in 1999 and elected to a second three-year term in 2002. He became a member of the Diocese of Nagoya's committee for permanent clerical formation that same year.[2]

Pope John Paul II appointed him the Bishop of Niigata on 29 April 2004.[2] He received his episcopal consecration on 20 September[1] at the Salle de Seishin Girls' High School in Niigata from Archbishop Peter Takeo Okada of Tokyo, with Bishops Rafael Masahiro Umemura of Yokohama and Marcellino Taiji Tani of Saitama as co-consecrators.[citation needed] He took as his motto Vatietate Unitas (Unity in Diversity).[4]

On 13 September 2014, Pope Francis named him a member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.[5]

He attended the beatification for Takayama Ukon in Osaka in 2017 and proposed the late samurai as "a model for all" since he had "renounced privileges and wealth for the faith".[6]

Pope Francis appointed Kikuchi Archbishop of Tokyo on 25 October 2017.[7] Kikuchi was installed there on 16 December 2017.[citation needed]

He has been a member of the Representative Council of Caritas International[citation needed] and headed Caritas Asia from 2011 to 2019.[4] On 15 May 2023, Kikuchi was elected to a four-year term as president of Caritas Internationalis.[8]

In the summer of 2021, when Japan had declared its fourth state of emergency because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kikuchi canceled plans for his parishes to provide services to participants and support staff of the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. He announced that those visiting Tokyo for the games "will be requested to refrain from visiting churches".[9]

Kikuchi is president of the Japanese Bishops Conference and secretary general of the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences.[10]

On 6 October 2024, Pope Francis announced that he planned to make Kikuchi a cardinal on 8 December,[11] a date that was later changed to 7 December.[12] Kikuchi praised Francis for "this symbolic gesture of appointing number of cardinals from the challenging mission areas in Asia".[13]

On 7 December 2024, Pope Francis made him a cardinal, assigning him as a member of the order of cardinal priests the title of San Giovanni Leonardi.[14]

Positions

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North Korea

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Kikuchi has been a staunch advocate for dialogue in relation to North Korea's nuclear program and their diplomatic crisis with the United States of America. In August 2017 he expressed his hope that the Japanese government would undertake "an initiative of dialogue that involves all the sides concerned in this crisis to find a diplomatic solution".[15]

He also asserted that dialogue remains "the only solution to peaceful coexistence in this part of Asia". He also accused "new political leaders" of exploiting the confrontation for their own political purposes and called for renewed negotiations.[15]

Evangelization

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Kikuchi supports missionary and evangelization efforts. He affirms that it is vital to "sow and witness the Gospel in our society today" though ponders on "where and how to evangelize" in the community. Kikuchi continues that "it is up to us to proclaim and witness the joy of the Gospel to mankind today. The grace of Christ sustains us and guides us in this journey" to bring His message to others.[16]

Kikuchi spoke on evangelization during the visit of Cardinal Fernando Filoni to Japan in September 2017 and expressed his hope that evangelization efforts on the part of the faithful would be "humble" but bold and direct.[16]

The environment

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Kikuchi is a strong advocate of environmental protection and wrote a piece for Asia News in support of the pope's encyclical Laudato si'.[17] The bishop said that in the piece that it was the role of all Christians in the protection and development of the environment with the proper allocation of resources on an equal level. He further asserted that "we must act to protect the lives of future generations" if "environmental degradation" went unchecked and too far. He further elaborated that the encyclical provided a "solid foundation" to be built upon for committing oneself to environmental protection and activism.[17]

LGBT

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Kikuchi recommending LGBT & Christianity

Kikuchi recommended and contributed to LGBT and Christianity, a volume supportive of LGBT rights, which was supervised by Aika Taira, a gay pastor of the United Church of Christ in Japan. The book was promoted by the Catholic HIV/AIDS Desk, an organization that, with the support of the Japanese Episcopal Conference, provides health information and fights anti-LGBT discrimination.[18][19]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Pope appoints a new bishop to Archdiocese of Tokyo, Japan". Vatican Radio. 25 October 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Rinunce e Nomine, 14.05.2004" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 14 May 2005. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  3. ^ Tresca, Malo (7 October 2024). "Who are the 21 new cardinals chosen by Pope Francis?". La Croix International. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  4. ^ a b c "Former missionary to Africa named new Tokyo archbishop". 26 October 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  5. ^ "Rinunce e nomine, 13.09.2014" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 13 September 2014. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  6. ^ Desmond O'Grady (25 January 2017). "Beatification awaits 'samurai of Christ'". Our Sunday Visitor. Archived from the original on 27 October 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  7. ^ "Rinunce e nomine, 25.10.2017" (Press release). Holy See Press Office. 25 October 2017. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  8. ^ Carvalho, Nirmala (15 May 2023). "New Caritas leader issues call to 'walk and work together'". Crux. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  9. ^ "Tokyo archbishop bans Olympians from Catholic churches amid surge in COVID-19 cases". Religion News Service. 16 July 2021. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
  10. ^ "Archbishop of Tokyo Msgr. Kikuchi president of Caritas Internationalis". Asia News. 14 May 2023. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  11. ^ "Annuncio di Concistoro l'8 dicembre per la creazione di nuovi Cardinali, 06.10.2024" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 6 October 2024. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  12. ^ Brockhaus, Hannah (12 October 2024). "Vatican Shares Pope Francis' Schedule for December Consistory to Create Cardinals". National Catholic Register. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
  13. ^ Carvalho, Nirmala (9 October 2024). "Newly appointed cardinal from Japan said Pope highlighting 'challenging mission areas in Asia'". Crux. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  14. ^ "Concistoro Ordinario Pubblico: Assegnazione dei Titoli e delle Diaconie ai nuovi Cardinali, 07.12.2024" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 7 December 2024. Retrieved 8 December 2024.
  15. ^ a b Marina Droujinina (25 October 2017). "Japan: Msgr. Tarcisius Isao Kikuchi New Archbishop, Tokyo". Zenit. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  16. ^ a b "Archbishop Kikuchi: In tune with the Pope and Card. Filoni for mission in Japan". 19 September 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  17. ^ a b Bishop Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi (20 June 2015). "For Niigata bishop, Laudado si' is for future generations, the poor and the marginalised". Asia News.
  18. ^ 書籍のご紹介「LGBTとキリスト教　20人のストーリーカトリック HIV/AIDSデスク 2023年3月24日
  19. ^ "Pope's Next Consistory Will Have a Number of LGBTQ-Positive New Cardinals". New Ways Ministry. 7 October 2024. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
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Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Francis Keiichi Sato
 Bishop of Niigata
2004 – 2017 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Archbishop of Tokyo
2017 – present 		Incumbent
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