Agenzia Fides

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - On June 13, 2011 the Holy Father Benedict XVI accepted the resignation from the pastoral government of the Diocese of Hiroshima (Japan), presented by His Exc. Mgr. Joseph Atsumi Misue, in accordance with canon 401 § 1 of the Code of Canon Law. The Holy Father appointed the Bishop of the Diocese of Hiroshima (Japan) Rev. Thomas Aquino Manyo Maeda, General Secretary of the Episcopal Conference of Japan.
Rev. Thomas Aquino Manyo Maeda, was born on March 3, 1949 in Tsuwasaki, Kami Goto, Nagasaki Prefecture, in the homonymous Archdiocese. After completing his studies at Nanzan high school in Nagasaki, he entered the major seminary of St. Sulpice in Fukuoka. He was ordained a priest on March 19, 1975 and incardinated in the diocese of Nagasaki. After ordination, he held the following positions: Assistant parish Priest, Editor of the Diocesan Bulletin and responsible for the diocesan Commission for Social Communications, Vicar Foraneo. Since 2006 he has been Secretary of the Bishops' Conference of Japan.
The Diocese of Hiroshima, built in 1959, is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Osaka. It has an area of 31,818 sq.km. and a population of 7,601,000 inhabitants, of whom 20,334 are Catholic. There are 47 parishes, 73 priests (20 diocesans and 53 religious), 213 nuns and two major seminarians. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 06/13/2011)