When the 133 cardinal electors gather in the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday, May 7, to choose Pope Francis’ successor, their number will include two Divine Word Missionary Cardinals.Tarcisio Isao Cardinal Kikuchi SVD of Japan and Ladislav Cardinal Nemet SVD of Serbia were both made cardinals at the same consistory on Dec. 7, 2024. That means they will join the papal conclave exactly six months after becoming cardinals.
Both men served as missionaries far from their home countries early in their vocations. They have said this missionary experience would shape their work as cardinals.
Cardinal Kikuchi has been archbishop of Tokyo since 2017, when he was appointed by Pope Francis. Prior to that, he was bishop of Niigata, Japan, for 13 years, appointed by Pope John Paul II in 2004.
He was born Nov. 1, 1958, in Iwate, Japan. He studied for the priesthood at Divine Word Seminary in Nagoya, Japan, and became a Divine Word Missionary in 1981 when he professed his first vows. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1986. His first assignment was to Ghana, where he served as a pastor in bush parishes until 1992.
After his time in Ghana, he returned to his home country to serve various roles in the Japan Province. He also taught at Nanzan University, which is run by Divine Word Missionaries, in Nagoya. He was provincial superior of the Japan Province from 1999 until 2005.
Since 2023, he has also been president of Caritas Internationalis, a confederation of 162 Catholic relief and development organizations operating worldwide.
In an interview he gave just prior to taking on his new office, Cardinal Kikuchi said,
“The missionary spirit is really the foundation of my priestly life, and that is what is coming from the SVD identity. It is very important for the SVD missionaries to go out all over the world and create unity in diversity.”
Cardinal Nemet has been archbishop of Belgrade since his appointment by Pope Francis in 2022. Before that he served as bishop of Zrenjanin, Serbia, for 14 years, appointed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2008.
Cardinal Nemet was born Sept. 7, 1956, in Odžaci, which was then part of Yugoslavia but is now in Serbia. He identifies himself as Hungarian, following his family’s heritage. One of his role models was an uncle who secretly practiced as a Divine Word Missionary priest in Hungary during the communist era.
Nemet became a Divine Word Missionary in 1979 while studying at a Divine Word seminary in Pieniężno, Poland. He was ordained in 1983 and spent his first two years as a missionary priest doing pastoral work in Croatia.
Academics would dominate his vocation for the next two decades. After several years of study in Rome, he was assigned to the Philippines in 1987. Until 1990, he was chaplain at the University of San Carlos, a Divine Word institution in Cebu City. He spent most of the 1990s in Austria, teaching at another Divine Word institution, St. Gabriel, where he was prefect of theology students. From 2004 to 2007, he served as provincial superior of the Hungary Province.
Interviewed at the same time as Cardinal Kikuchi, Cardinal Nemet spoke of how his spirituality as a Divine Word Missionary would influence his new role in Church leadership. “We have a special gift as the Society of the Divine Word to be open with the spirit of freedom … and esteem for all cultures,” he said.
This conclave marks the first time in the 150-year history of our congregation that two Divine Word Missionaries will help choose the next pope. The only previous Divine Word Missionary cardinal was Thomas Cardinal Tien Ken-hsin SVD, the archbishop of Beijing. Made cardinal in 1946, he participated in two papal conclaves: the one in 1958 that elected Pope John XXIII and the one in 1963 that elected Pope Paul VI. Cardinal Tien Ken-hsin died in 1967.
As this new papal conclave begins, please join us in lifting up the cardinal electors in prayer—with special thought for our two Divine Word Missionary cardinals—so that the Holy Spirit can guide them toward a wise decision as they choose the next leader of the Catholic Church.
If you like, you can say this prayer that is familiar to Divine Word Missionaries as the Quarter Hour Prayer:
God, eternal truth.
We believe in you.
God, our strength and our salvation,
We hope in you.
God, infinite goodness,
We love you with all our heart.
You have sent the Word as Savior of the world,
Make us all one in him.
Fill us with the Spirit of your Son,
That we may glorify your name.
Amen.
