Tokyo archbishop elected Caritas Internationalis president

Tokyo archbishop elected Caritas Internationalis president

Archbishop Tarcisius Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo has been elected as the new president of Caritas Internationalis, the global confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development, and social service organizations.

Kikuchi, 65, was elected during the confederation’s 22nd General Assembly in Rome on May 13, a press release from the organization said.

He becomes the 13th president of the body with a four-year mandate to oversee the operations of Caritas in up to 200 countries and territories around the world.

A member of the Society of the Divine Word congregation, Kikuchi serves as president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan and Secretary-General of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC), the apex body of national bishops’ conferences from more than 20 countries.

In a message to Caritas members, Kikuchi said he was “surprised” and that he would do his best to “respond to the call of the people all over the world who are in a difficult situation right now.”

Kikuchi said he has worked with Caritas for about 30 years starting in a refugee camp in Rwanda as a volunteer.

“There I met so many people who asked: ‘Don’t forget us while everybody is forgetting us.’ That was a strong message I got from people in difficulties,” he said.

Over the years, Kikuchi has held various positions in Caritas.

He served as the Executive Director of Caritas Japan from 1999 to 2004 and 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, Vatican News reported.

Kikuchi said Caritas must continue its role on the front line “to receive, accompany, serve, and defend the poor and vulnerable.”

“This mission must be upheld and capture all attention of the members of the confederation, and I would like to be the one to lead the entire organization to fulfill this important mission of the Church together with the secretary-general. All are invited to walk together.”

Kikuchi was born on Nov. 1, 1958. He professed his vows with the Divine Word Missionaries in March 1985. He was ordained a priest on March 15, 1986.

He was a missionary to Ghana, serving in a rural parish for eight years.

He was appointed bishop of Niigata on May 14, 2004, and was ordained bishop on Sept. 20 of that year.

Kikuchi has been serving as the archbishop of Tokyo since 2017.

Meanwhile, the Caritas Regional Assembly in Rome re-elected Dr. Benedict Alo D’Rozario as president of Caritas Asia on May 10.

D’Rozario, 66, a former executive director of Caritas Bangladesh, is the first layperson to hold the position and succeeded Archbishop Kikuchi when he was first elected in 2019.

He served Caritas in various capacities for about 29 years. He retired in 2016 after leading as the executive director for 11 years.

“We will also work towards enhancing our monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning processes to ensure that we are delivering quality programs that meet the needs of our brothers and sisters in need,” Radio Veritas Asia reported  D’Rozario as saying on May 12.