MUMBAI, India – Archbishop Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo said he was “truly surprised” when Pope Francis announced he will be naming him a cardinal in December, along with 20 other members of the clergy.
He said he the reason it was unexpected to him was that there was already a cardinal in Japan, Cardinal Thomas Aquinas Manyo Maeda of of Osaka-Takamatsu.
“Despite of this fact, creating another cardinal for this small Catholic community of Japan is unbelievable. I am humbled, surprised, and shaken. I truly need prayers of all more than before,” he told Crux.
Japan has over 120 million people, but only 1.26 million of these are Christians, and the Catholic population is estimated to be just over 400,000.
Kikuchi is currently in Rome as a delegate at the Synod on Synodality being held this month at the Vatican.
“On this Sunday afternoon, I just came back from Mass for Japanese Catholic community in Rome, got off a taxi near the St. Peter’s Square,” he said.
“So many people were coming back from Angelus and among them was a man always waiting for bishops to ask for bishops’ autograph on photos approached me and congratulated me saying, ‘Archbishop Kikuchi, you are a cardinal now.’ I thought he was just joking,” Kikuchi said.
“Then when I reached residence near Vatican where I am staying for Synod this month, I met with Cardinal Rueda of Bogota who made me to hear the recordings of today’s Angelus. Yes, indeed the Holy Father mentioned my name. What a surprise,” he told Crux.
“I just spoke a bit with Holy Father on the previous Friday in Synod Hall and took photos together, but he did not say anything about creating anyone cardinal. And I am staying in Rome but there is no official communication on the appointment yet. So, it was really hard to believe the news of appointment,” he continued.
The Japanese archbishop said it was an “an honor for the tiny Catholic Church community in Japan, for the Tokyo archdiocese, for the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences (FABC) for which I have been a secretary general, for Caritas Internationalis for which I have been a president, and especially for the Divine Word Missionaries (SVD),” Kikuchi said.
He noted that another member of his order, Archbishop Nemet of Serbia, was appointed, and before them, only one other member – the late Cardinal Thomas Tien of Beijing – had ever worn the red hat.
Another Japanese member of the Divine Word Missionaries, Bishop Daisuke Narui of Niigata in Japan, praised the pontiff’s decision to make Kikuchi a cardinal.
“Archbishop Kikuchi has been very active in promoting ‘a Church which goes forth’ which is expressed in Evangelii Gaudium,” he told Crux.
“As he was a missionary to Ghana, he always put emphasis on mission both in local and international contexts. I believe his experience and motivation for mission as a Cardinal will be an important contribution to the universal Church,” Narui said.
The bishop said the Catholic faithful in Japan are very grateful for the new appointment.
“I hear voices of the faithful saying that Archbishop Kikuchi is a capable person and they offer prayers for him. I myself had a prayer gathering with a group of faithful today and offered mass and prayer for him,” he told Crux.
Kikuchi noted Pope Francis recently appointing cardinals in the mission territories
where Catholics are minority.
“In most of countries in Asia, Catholics or Christians are absolute minority and we have so many pastoral and missionary challenges to spread Good News of Jesus Christ,” the cardinal-elect told Crux.
“This is the mission territory where the Church has been inviting ‘all’ to walk together, support together and listen to each other. Not only among Catholics, not only among Christians, but the Church in Asia is living in the reality of diverse cultural differences with so many faith communities,” he said, adding interreligious dialogue is the “must” of daily life of the mission in Asia.
“Therefore, I am grateful to Holy Father making this symbolic gesture of appointing number of cardinals from the challenging mission areas in Asia,” Kikuchi said.
“I am shaken and afraid when I think about the trust of Holy Father in me and I sincerely ask all of you to keep me and all these new cardinals in prayers so that we may be able to fulfill our duties in the Church,” he told Crux.
The consistory is scheduled to take place on December 8
