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OBIT-HAMAO Nov-9-2007 (480 words) With photo. xxxi
Japanese cardinal, retired president of migrants' council, dies at 77
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Japanese Cardinal Stephen Fumio Hamao, retired president of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers, died Nov. 8 in Tokyo at the age of 77.
In a telegram of condolence to the Diocese of Yokohama, where he had served as bishop for almost 20 years, Pope Benedict XVI praised the cardinal for his "devoted witness to the Gospel, his lively concern for the poor and his generous service to the universal church."
Vatican Radio reported Nov. 9 that the funeral Mass for the cardinal, who had been battling cancer, would take place Nov. 12 in Yokohama.
His death leaves the College of Cardinals with 178 members, 103 of whom are under age 80 and therefore eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. After Pope Benedict creates new cardinals Nov. 24, there will be a total of 201 cardinals with 120 of them being potential papal electors.
Cardinal Hamao retired from his Vatican post in 2006, a year after submitting his resignation as required on his 75th birthday. But he said he was saddened by the fact that when he left the council that defends the rights and promotes the pastoral care of migrants and others was placed under the leadership of the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.
The cardinal told reporters he had read about the changes in the newspaper and that the Vatican had not consulted him or offered any advance notice of the changes to his office.
When he was named a cardinal in 2003, he said the council was an important reminder to the rest of the church.
"In general, the Catholic Church in the world is interested only in pastoral care through parishes," he said. "But there are millions of people in the world without a fixed domicile, therefore no parish, and they deserve pastoral care, too."
He converted to Catholicism at age 16. He said, "God grabbed me and put me in the seminary" just three years later, although some priests said "it was too soon."
Born in Tokyo March 9, 1930, the cardinal began his studies at a state university before entering the seminary in Tokyo in 1949.
In 1951, he was sent to Rome, where he completed his seminary education, earning degrees in philosophy and theology from the Pontifical Urbanian University and a degree in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University.
Ordained to the priesthood in Rome in 1957, he returned to Japan, where he worked in the Tokyo chancery and ministered in the cathedral, in addition to serving as director of a Catholic students' residence.
He was named an auxiliary bishop of Tokyo in 1970 and bishop of Yokohama in 1979. He was named head of the migrants and travelers council in 1998.
END
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