INTERVIEW: Japanese Cardinal Pins High Hopes on Pope’s Visit

November 18, 2019

Osaka- Japanese cardinal Manyo Maeda has voiced his strong hope for Pope Francis to issue a strong message for the total abolition of nuclear weapons during his visit to Japan on Nov. 23-26.

"The pope is expected to say 'no' to not only the use of nuclear weapons but also their production and possession," the 70-year-old archbishop of Osaka said in an interview with Jiji Press on Friday in the western Japan city of Osaka. He has played a pivotal role in arranging the first papal visit to Japan in 38 years.

Pope Francis, who is set to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the two Japanese cities devastated by the U.S. atomic bombings in the closing days of World War II, has been calling for efforts to be made to realize a world free of nuclear weapons. As part of the moves, the pope ordered a photo of a Japanese boy standing by a crematorium in Nagasaki after the Aug. 9, 1945, bombing of the city, carrying his dead brother on his shoulder, into cards for distribution.

With far more than 10,000 nuclear weapons existing in the world, Pope Francis "is worried that any of the weapons could be used any time soon and the situation is therefore serious," Maeda said.

The pope is expected to focus especially on the issue of nuclear weapons during a Mass planned in Nagasaki and at a meeting in Hiroshima, according to Maeda. Noting that protecting all lives is the theme of Pope Francis' upcoming Japan visit, Maeda said: "Issues of life are important (for everyone), regardless of which religion people follow. Pope Francis is willing to talk to not only Christians but all other people."

Pope Francis is also expected to discuss recent problems facing Japan, such as youth suicide and lonely deaths, and climate change and other global issues, Maeda indicated.

Maeda, who is from one of the Goto Islands in Nagasaki Prefecture, is a descendant of a hidden Christian and a son of a hibakusha, or atomic bomb survivor.

"Just like hibakusha, I hope Pope Francis will send throughout the world a message showing his opposition to war and his desire to eliminate nuclear weapons," Maeda said.

Among many others who look forward to Pope Francis' Japan visit is Shoji Fukahori, an 82-year-old Christian priest in Hiroshima.

When the U.S. atomic bomb exploded in Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, Fukahori, then 8, was about 3 kilometers away from ground zero.

Even though he had been taught, as a Christian, to forgive others since he was a younger child, he was caught by anger when he saw his mother and brother severely hurt by the bombing, Fukahori recalled.

Fukahori became a priest when he was 27, but had never talked to someone else about his atomic bomb experience.

But he changed his mind after hearing a speech by Pope John Paul II during his Japan visit in February 1981, which was the first papal trip to the Asian country. Since then, Fukahori has been telling his story and determined to keep saying no to nuclear weapons and war.

Fukahori is waiting for Pope Francis' massage encouraging Japan to strengthen its efforts for peace.

"I think Pope Francis is caught by a growing sense of crisis" amid increasing confrontation in many places in the world, Fukahori said. "The pope will perhaps say that he wants Japan to do more to stress the importance of peace to the world."Jiji Press