Japan Archives

Japanese bishops urge solidarity as suicides rise under COVID fallout

Dec 1, 2020

As the number suicides in Japan mount amid the ongoing fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, the country’s bishops have issued a statement for the one-year anniversary of Pope Francis’s visit last year calling, among other things, for solidarity with the poor and an end to discrimination against the infected.

By Elise Ann Allen

Japan Catholic Church sued for damages in alleged sex abuse

Sep 25, 2020

A woman has filed a suit against the Catholic Church in Japan alleging that a priest raped her four decades ago, as the church’s unfolding worldwide sexual abuse crisis gradually reaches Japan.

By Yuri Kageyama

Bishops from Japan, U.S. call Catholics to work for nuclear disarmament

Aug 4, 2020

The path to true peace requires the world to abolish nuclear weapons, an American bishop and a Japanese archbishop said as the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings at the end of World War II approached.

By Dennis Sadowski

Japanese archbishop urges U.S. to witness the Gospel of peace

Jul 19, 2020

As the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings of two Japanese cities approaches, the president of the county’s Catholic bishops’ conference called on the United States “as a Christian nation” to witness the Gospel of peace as lived by Jesus.

By Dennis Sadowski

Japanese bishops’ anti-nuclear power book available in English

Jul 12, 2020

An English version of a book by Japan’s bishops appealing for the abolition of nuclear power is now available for free on the internet

By Catholic News Service

Youth, interfaith dialogue, and peace dominate Pope’s foreign trips in 2019

Dec 30, 2019

Three major themes, all among the top priorities of Pope Francis’s pontificate, were front and center during his foreign trips in 2019.

By Inés San Martín

Cries of abuse in Catholic Church start to be heard in Japan

Dec 14, 2019

The clergy sex abuse crisis is only beginning to be looked at in countries like Japan.

By Yuri Kageyama

Pope visits Jesuit Japan community that could have been his

Nov 26, 2019

Pope Francis wrapped up his visit to Japan in a very personal way Tuesday, spending the morning with his Jesuit confreres in the community that would have been his own had his dream to be a missionary come true.

By Nicole Winfield and Mari Yamaguchi