When Archbishop Tarcisius Isao Kikuchi, S.V.D., receives the red hat and cardinal’s ring from Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Basilica on the afternoon of Dec. 7, he will be the seventh Japanese cardinal in the history of the Catholic Church and one of 22 Asian cardinals with a right to vote in the next conclave.
In this exclusive interview with America’s Vatican correspondent on Oct. 16 during the Synod on Synodality in Rome, the 66-year-old archbishop spoke about his service in Ghana as a member of the Divine Word Missionaries, after which he joined the Japanese branch of Caritas Internationalis. He later became president of Caritas Asia and now heads Caritas Internationalis. Pope John Paul II appointed him as bishop of the Diocese of Niigata in 2004, and Pope Francis named him archbishop of Tokyo in 2017.
He told me he was “very surprised” when Pope Francis read out his name in the list of 21 new cardinals after the midday Angelus on Sunday, Oct. 6, “because on the Friday prior to the announcement, I met the Holy Father when he came very early to the synod hall. I went to greet him and chat, and we took photos together. He looked at my [synod] I.D. card, started to read my name, but didn’t say anything. Then on Sunday, I went to the Japanese Mass [in Rome], and when I came back somebody told me there was this announcement. I couldn’t believe it.”
People back home in Japan were surprised at his nomination, he said, “because there is already an active cardinal in Osaka,” Cardinal Thomas Aquino Manyo Maeda. At the same time, they were happy, especially in Tokyo, which has not had a cardinal since the retirement of Cardinal Peter Shirayanagi as archbishop in 2000. Cardinal Shirayanagi died in 2009.
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David Neuhaus, S.J., teaches Scripture in Israel and Palestine. He has been a long-term member of the Holy Land Catholic Church’s Justice and Peace Commission. Born in South Africa during the apartheid era, he has lived most of his life in Israel and is an Israeli citizen.
With thanks to America and David Neuhaus, S.J., where this article originally appeared.
