Archbishop of Tōkyō
Cardinal Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi, S.V.D., Archbishop of Tokyo, Japan, was born on 1 November 1958, in the Prefecture of Iwate, Diocese of Sendai. He studied in Japan. He professed his solemn vows in the Congregation of the Verbite Missionaries in March 1985, and was ordained a priest in March 1986. He completed his studies at the Spiritual Institute of the Sacred Heart in Melbourne, Australia. He has served as missionary in the Dioceses of Accra and Koforidua, in Ghana (1986-1992), formator, and Vice Prefect of Verbite postulants in Japan (1994-1999). Since 1999 he has been Provincial Superior of the Verbites in Japan (second term since 2002), Executive Director of Caritas Japan, and a member of the Committee for the Permanent Formation of the Clergy of the Diocese of Nagoya. He was appointed Bishop of Niigata on 29 April 2004, receiving episcopal ordination the following 20 September, and remained there until he was nominated Metropolitan Archbishop of Tokyo on 25 October 2017. He was created and proclaimed a Cardinal by Pope Francis in the Consistory of 7 December 2024, and was assigned the titular church S. Giovanni Leonardi. Member of: · Dicasteries: for Communication; for Promoting Integral Human Development.