Archbishop Kikuchi: ‘Caritas leads in giving globalized system alternatives and solutions’

As the newly elected President of Caritas Internationalis, Archbishop Isao Kikuchi's vision is to lead Caritas as a global alternative and solution.

"My vision for Caritas is that the confederation is the service of the church and must be at the forefront of proposing alternatives, solutions, and orientations to the globalized world order as a service of the church," the Archbishop told RVA News. 

Tokyo's Archbishop urged each region to be strong and independent to achieve such a vision.

"Each local Caritas should also have a good capacity to be on its own and an excellent general secretariat, he said. "To promote true partnership or fraternal cooperation based on the gospel's teachings," as Caritas is a professional aid agency and a genuinely Catholic organization of care and love. 

As the confederation president, he promised to bring unity and oneness to serve together during global turmoil. 

'I will try my best, together with the new secretary general, to be elected soon, to lead the organization to work on fraternal cooperation in building this oneness and becoming a true witness of the love of God," the prelate said. 

While thanking the members of organizations around the globe who have placed their trust in him, he wished to introduce the organization to an excellent servant-leader model. 

"I am grateful to the member organizations worldwide who trust me. I will try my best to be a good servant leader in this critical confederation of care and love of the Church," said the Divine Word Archbishop.

He concluded that each one, starting from a volunteer at the grassroots level to a person at the top management level, is invited to work and walk together to achieve the Caritas goal.

On May 13, 400 delegates at the 22nd General Assembly of Caritas Internationalis in Rome elected him as the organization's new president for a four-year term, as previously reported.- Kasmir Nema