MANILA (CBCPNews): Archbishop Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo, Japan, was appointed as the new secretary general of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences [FABC], the federation announced in a letter sent to member episcopal conferences on July 22.
Archbishop Kikuchi replaces Bishop Stephen Lee Bun-sang of Macau, who resigned from the post in July.
His duties as secretary general will include directing the activities of FABC’s central secretariat, executing its resolutions and instructions, and coordinating the work of the federation’s offices.
Born in Miyako, Iwate Prefecture, in 1958, Archbishop Kikuchi was ordained a priest for the Society of the Divine Word [SVD] on 15 March 1986. He was subsequently sent to the Diocese of Korofidua in Ghana, becoming the first Japanese priest to go to Africa as a missionary.
In 1999, he was elected the provincial superior for the Divine Word Missionaries in Japan.
Pope John Paul II appointed him bishop of Niigata on 29 April 2004 and, in October 2017, Pope Francis named him archbishop of Tokyo.
Archbishop Kikuchi currently heads Caritas Japan and was the regional president of Caritas Asia from 2011 to 2019.
He also served as member of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples and the FABC Office on Human Development.
