Caritas Internationalis elects new leaders

Source: Caritas Internationalis

The 22nd General Assembly of Caritas Internationalis elects Archbishop Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi as its new president. Alistair Dutton has been elected new Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis, and Kirsty Robertson was elected as the new Vice President

Archbishop Tarcisius Isao Kikuchi, SVD, the Archbishop of Tokyo, in Japan, was elected on Saturday evening as the 13th President of Caritas Internationalis. He will serve a four-year term at the head of the confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development and social service organizations. Caritas operates in over 200 countries and territories around the world, and seeks to build a better world, especially for the poor and oppressed.

Archbishop Kikuchi also serves as president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan and Secretary General of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC).

In a statement released on Saturday evening, Caritas Internationalis congratulated Archbishop Kikuchi on his election.

He has worked with the Caritas confederation in various positions and titles since 1995, when he began as a volunteer in a refugees camp in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo (then known as Zaire).

He served as the Executive Director of Caritas Japan from 1999 to 2004 and the president of Caritas Japan from 2007 to 2022. He was also the president of Caritas Asia from 2011 to 2019, a member of the Caritas Internationalis Executive Committee from 1999 to 2004, and a member of the Representative Council from 2011 to 2019.

In his address to Caritas members on Friday, Archbishop Kikuchi said: "Caritas must be in the front line to receive, accompany, serve and defend the poor and vulnerable. This mission must be upheld and capture all attentions of the Members of the Confederation, and I would like to be the one to lead entire organization to fulfill this important mission of the Church together with the Secretary General. All are invited to walk together."

Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi was born in Iwate on 1 November 1958. He professed his vows in the Divine Word Missionaries in March 1985 prior to his ordination to the priesthood on 15 March 1986.

As a newly ordained young priest, he served as a missionary to Ghana, where he was a parish priest in a rural parish for 8 years.

He has served as Archbishop of Tokyo since his appointment in 2017, prior to which he had served as the Bishop of Niigata since 2004.

Two days later, Caritas Internationalis elected Alistair Dutton as its new Secretary General.

A statement released by Caritas explains that he will lead the Caritas Confederation, which includes 162 national Caritas member organisations, until 2027.

Dutton is currently Executive Director of SCIAF (Caritas Scotland), and has over 25 years of experience in the humanitarian field, having led projects in more than 70 countries. From 2009 to 2014, he served as the Humanitarian Director of Caritas Internationalis.

Addressing Caritas' delegates attending the General Assembly, the 11th Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis said "serving Caritas over the last three decades has been a great privilege for me. Caritas has been my home, my family, and my vocation." He added, "I promise to listen humbly, to reflect thoughtfully, and to build bridges. I promise to use the convening power of the Secretary General to drive the confederation forward together."

Dutton first began working with Caritas in 1996. "Since then my journey with Caritas has taken me all over the world. From the war in Kosovo, Darfur, Iraq, Liberia and Syria; to tsunamis in Asia, earthquakes in Haiti, India, Indonesia and Chile; conflicts born of greed and the exploitation of wealth in Africa; waves of displacement in the Middle East; and the devastation caused by the climate emergency and extreme weather: cyclones and floods in Pakistan, Myanmar, India and Bangladesh; food crises in so many countries in Africa from the Sahel to Somalia, the Sudan to Zimbabwe; and the frightening reality of sinking island states in the Pacific," he said.

In 2014 Dutton was also the CEO of the Sphere Project, the international humanitarian standards body. From 2005 to 2009 he was also head of the Humanitarian Programmes Unit for Africa of Christian Aid.

Also on 15 May, Kirsty Robertson was elected as the new Vice President of Caritas Internationalis. She has been the CEO of Caritas Australia since 2019. Roberts previously held various positions at Caritas Australia including Pacific Programs Coordinator and Communications Group Leader and was CEO at Mary MacKillop.