VATICAN CITY, OCTOBER 25, 2017 (Zenit.org).- On Wednesday, October 25, 2017, Pope Francis appointed Monsignor Tarcisius Isao Kikuchi, 60, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Tokyo. Up to now Monsignor Kikuchi was Bishop of the Diocese of Niigata.
The new Archbishop is also President of the Japanese Caritas.
The Holy Father accepted the renunciation, tendered by Monsignor Peter Takeo Okada, to the pastoral government of the Archdiocese of Tokyo, having reached the limit of 75 years on October 24, 2017. He served the diocese for 17 years.
Monsignor Tarcisius Isao Kikuchi was born at Miyako, in the prefecture of Iwate, on November 1, 1958.
He was ordained priest on March 15, 1986.
On May 14, 2004, Pope John Paul II appointed him Bishop of Niigata. His Episcopal Ordination took place on September 20, 2004.
In August of this year, Monsignor Kikuchi intervened in the political and military crisis that developed between North Korea and the United States. “I hope that the Japanese Government will assume in all sincerity an initiative of dialogue that involves all the sides concerned in this crisis, to find a diplomatic solution,” he said, as reported by L’Osservatore Romano. He asserted that dialogue is “the only solution to peaceful coexistence in this part of Asia.”
JF
