Thomas Aquino Manyo Maeda (Japanese: 前田万葉, Hepburn: Maeda Manyō) (born 3 March 1949) is a Japanese prelate of the Catholic Church. He has been Archbishop of Osaka-Takamatsu since 2023 and was Archbishop of Osaka from 2014 to 2023. He was Bishop of Hiroshima from 2011 to 2014. Pope Francis elevated him to the cardinalate on 28 June 2018.
Biography
Thomas Aquino Manyo Maeda was born in Tsuwasaki, Kami-Goto, in the prefecture of Nagasaki on 3 March 1949. He studied at the Liceo Nanzan of Nagasaki and entered the Major Seminary Saint Sulpice in Fukuoka. He was ordained on 19 March 1975.[1]
On 13 June 2011, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Bishop of Hiroshima[2] and he was consecrated a bishop on 23 September 2011.[citation needed] He participated in the peace movement in Hiroshima and campaigned for the beatification of those called "hidden Christians", 3,400 Nagasaki Christians—more than 600 died—exiled to scattered locations throughout Japan until the middle of the nineteenth century by the Japanese government.[3]
On 20 August 2014, Pope Francis appointed him Archbishop of Osaka.[4]
Since 2016 he has been Vice-President of the Japanese Episcopal Conference.[1]
He writes haiku and incorporates them into his sermons.[3]