Vatican City (Fides Service) - Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, has (14 March 2003) appointed rector of the major Inter-diocesan Seminary in Tokyo, Reverend Father Francis Xavier Toyohiko Hirata. The new Rector was born in 11 November 1951 in Nagasaki. He attended Tokyo Catholic Seminary and was ordained a priest on 8 march 1981. He has a Licentiate and a Doctorate in Canon Law from the Urban University in Rome. He has since been: assistant priest and parish priest and since April 2000 moderator of Tokyo Catholic Seminary in charge of first year students. (Fides Service 24/3/2003 EM lines 10 Words: 116)