VATICAN - The Holy Father's grief at the death of Cardinal Stephen Fumio Hamao

Monday, 12 November 2007

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - The Holy Father has sent a telegrammes to Bishop Rafael Masahiro Umemura of Yokohama, Japan, for the death, at the age of 77, of Cardinal Stephen Fumio Hamao, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples. In his telegramme, the Pope recalls the late cardinal's pastoral ministry "for nearly two decades" in Yokohama, as well as his "lively concern for the poor and his generous service to the universal Church", and he commends "the soul of this proud son of the Japanese people to the loving mercy of God our heavenly Father." In another telegramme, sent to Teresa Teruko Uematsu, sister of the late Cardinal, the Holy Father assures her of my prayers for Cardinal Hamao's eternal rest "and I ask our Lord Jesus Christ to grant you the consolation and peace born of our firm hope in His promises."
Cardinal Stephen Fumio Hamao, was born in Tokyo, Japan, on 9 March 1930. He studied at Urban College in Rome (1951-1958) and obtained a degree in Canon Law from the Pontifical Gregorian University (1962). Ordained a priest on 21 December 1957, he was appointed auxiliary Bishop of di Tokyo on the 5 February 1970. On 30 October 1979 he was appointed Bishop of Yokohama. During his service as Bishop of Yokohama he was head of several commissions of the Japanese Bishops' Conference. He was also vice-president of the Conference from 1992-1995 and president from 1995 to 1998. He held various charges in the Council of the Synod of Bishops, in the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC), Caritas Internationalis, the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. On 15 June 1998 Pope John Paul II appointed him president of the Pontifical Council for the pastoral care of migrants and itinerant peoples, elevating him to the rank of archbishop, a position he held until 11 March 2006. He was created a Cardinal by John Paul II on 21 October 2003. He was a member of the Congregations for the Evangelisation of Peoples and for the Causes of Saints; the Pontifical Councils for Justice and Peace and Cor Unum; of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 12/11/2007; righe 31, parole 429)


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