ROME (SE): Archbishop Tarcisius Isao Kikuchi, the Archbishop of Tokyo, Japan, was elected the 13th President of Caritas Internationalis on May 13, Vatican News reported. He will serve a four-year term as head of the confederation.
Archbishop Kikuchi is also president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan and secretary general of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences.
Archbishop Kikuchi has worked with the Caritas confederation in various positions and titles since 1995, when he began as a volunteer in a refugees camp in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the.
The archbishop was executive director of Caritas Japan from 1999 to 2004 and then president of Caritas Japan from 2007 to 2022. He was also the president of Caritas Asia from 2011 to 2019, a member of the Caritas Internationalis Executive Committee from 1999 to 2004, and a member of the Representative Council from 2011 to 2019.
“Caritas must be in the front line to receive, accompany, serve and defend the poor and vulnerable. This mission must be upheld and capture all attentions of the members of the confederation, and I would like to be the one to lead entire organisation to fulfill this important mission of the Church together with the secretary general. All are invited to walk together.” Vatican News reported Archbishop Kikuchi as telling Caritas members on May 12.
Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi was born in Iwate on 1 November 1958. He professed his vows with the Divine Word Missionaries in March 1985 prior to his ordination to the priesthood on 15 March 1986.
He has been Archbishop of Tokyo since 2017, prior to which he had served as the Bishop of Niigata since 2004.
