Caritas Internationalis on Saturday elected Archbishop Tarcisius Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo as its new president.

The election came on the third of the five-day general assembly of the confederation of more than 162 Catholic relief and development agencies across the world.

He will hold office for a term four years and may be reelected for a second term.

Addressing the assembly’s around 400 delegates, the archbishop stressed that Caritas “must be in the front line to receive, accompany, serve and defend the poor and vulnerable”.

“This mission must be upheld and capture all attentions of the members of the confederation and I would like to be the one to lead entire organization to fulfill this important mission of the Church together with the Secretary General,” Kikuchi said. “All are invited to walk together.”

The archbishop succeeded the post from Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, making him the second Caritas Internationalis president from Asia.

He is currently the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan (CBCJ) and Secretary General of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC).

Kikuchi has worked with Caritas organisation in various positions and titles since 1995, starting from a volunteer in Refugees’ Camp in Bukavu, then Zaire.

He served as the Executive Director of Caritas Japan from 1999 to 2004 and the 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.

Born in Iwate on November 1, 1958, he was professed into the Divine Word Missionaries in March 1985 prior to his ordination to the priesthood on March 15 1986.

As a young priest, he served as a missionary to Ghana, Africa, where he was a parish priest in a rural parish for eight years.

He has been serving as archbishop of Tokyo since his appointment in 2017.

Prior to becoming Tokyo archbishop, he had served as the bishop of Niigata since 2004 when he was first named as a bishop.