Cardinal Thomas Aquino Manyo Maeda is a Japanese prelate known for his service to people with disabilities, his work in communications, education, ecumenism, and his involvement in a peace movement in Hiroshima.

Born on March 3, 1949, in Tsuwasaki, Kami-Goto, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan, he completed his studies at the Nanzan Lyceum in Nagasaki and entered the Saint Sulpitius Major Seminary in Fukuoka. Maeda was ordained as a priest on March 19, 1975, and incardinated in the diocese of Nagasaki.

Throughout his career, Maeda has held various positions within the Catholic Church. He served as a parish vicar, parish priest, editor of the diocesan Bulletin, and head of the diocesan Commission for Social Communications. From 2006 to 2011, he was the secretary general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan.

On June 13, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Maeda as the Bishop of Hiroshima, and he received episcopal consecration in September 2011.

As a native of Nagasaki and as Bishop of Hiroshima, Cardinal Maeda was widely involved in the peace movement in Hiroshima, where he served as bishop for three years. He also worked for the beatification of “hidden Christians” who had been exiled to Tsuwano, part of Hiroshima Diocese. In the final outbreak of anti-Christian persecution in Japan 150 years ago, some 3,400 Christians from Nagasaki were exiled to various places throughout the country, and more than 600 died.

Pope Francis appointed Maeda the Archbishop of Osaka in 2014. He served as the vice president of the Japanese Catholic Bishops’ Conference from 2016 to 2022. In June 2018, Pope Francis elevated Maeda to the rank of cardinal.

Most recently, on August 15, 2023, Pope Francis erected the new metropolitan archdiocese of Osaka-Takamatsu and appointed Cardinal Maeda its first metropolitan archbishop.

The cardinal is known for his involvement with people with disabilities and has served on the bishops’ conference committees for education and ecumenism.

Cardinal Maeda has weighed in on some issues important to this pontificate, and the Church in general. He views synodality as a way to keep the Catholic faith alive in Japan. He stated, “Synodality can be used to keep a significant presence. The communion, the service, the mission are ways to stay present in society.” He sees it as a means to maintain the Church’s relevance in Japanese society.

The cardinal appears to have a positive view on migration in relation to the Catholic Church in Japan. He has suggested that God’s plan might include “the influx of migrants to save the Catholic Church here.”

Cardinal Maeda is known for his strong anti-nuclear stance. This position is influenced by his personal history, as his mother died of leukemia due to radiation poisoning from the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki.

The cardinal has acknowledged the difficulty in keeping Catholicism relevant in modern Japan, where its population is falling and ageing. He has noted a gap between Church teaching on issues like contraception and abortion and the reality in Japanese society. “The difficulty is most Japanese people believe the Catholic Church is very strict and that’s a problem,” he told The Catholic Herald in October 2024.

However, he sees it as a state problem rather than a moral one. “The ageing population and fewer children being born is certainly the biggest issue for us,” Cardinal Maeda said.

“But I believe the slowing birth rate is a problem for the government of Japan to solve, not the Church.”

Cardinal Maeda, who can trace his Catholic heritage back to when the Gospel arrived on Japanese shores in the sixteenth century, nevertheless remains optimistic. “The first Japanese Christians refused to renounce their faith despite being tortured and murdered, and they will be strong again,” he said.

The cardinal does not appear to have spoken out on such issues the traditional Latin Mass, priestly celibacy or same-sex blessings.

The cardinal is a master of haiku, a short Japanese poetic form, and often incorporates his poems into his sermons and articles. Haiku has Buddhist roots and offers a Zen snapshot of the universe.

Cardinal Maeda speaks Japanese and English.