(born 3 March 1949) is a Japanese Catholic prelate who has served as Archbishop of Osaka-Takamatsu since 2023. He was previously Archbishop of Osaka from 2014 to 2023 and Bishop of Hiroshima from 2011 to 2014. Pope Francis elevated him to the cardinalate on 28 June 2018.
Early life and career Maeda Manyō 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.
He was Secretary General of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan from 2006 to 2011.
Episcopal career On 13 June 2011, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Bishop of Hiroshima and he was consecrated a bishop on 23 September 2011. 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.
On 20 August 2014, Pope Francis appointed him Archbishop of Osaka.
Since 2016, he has been Vice-President of the Japanese Episcopal Conference.
Pope Francis made Maeda a cardinal on 28 June 2018, assigning him the titular church of Santa Pudenziana.
On 15 August 2023, Maeda was named Archbishop of the newly erected Archdiocese of Osaka-Takamatsu.
Maeda participated as a cardinal elector in the 2025 papal conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV.
Personal life He is a master of haiku, the Japanese short form poetic style, and often incorporates them into his sermons and other writing.
See also Cardinals created by Francis Catholic Church in Japan
References
External links
Diocese of Osaka