On the same day that a former Hiroshima bishop passed away, a new prelate was named for this Japanese diocese of around 21,000 Catholics.
The Holy See announced June 28 that Pope Francis appointed Father Alexis Mitsuru Shirahama, 54, as bishop of Hiroshima Diocese.
One of his predecessors, retired Bishop Joseph Atsumi Misue, 80, dead from a heart attack in the early hours of that same day.
The diocese has had no bishop since Bishop Misue's successor, Archbishop Thomas Aquinas Manyo Maeda, was transferred from Hiroshima to Osaka in August 2014.
These three prelates were Nagasaki Archdiocesan priests.
Bishop-elect Shirahama was ordained a priest in 1990 and studied in Canada and France until 1995. He entered the Sulpician Province of Canada in 1993.
The Sulpician Fathers belong to the Society of St. Sulpice, a society of diocesan priests on permanent leave from their dioceses to work in seminary formation.
After returning to Japan in 1995, he served in major seminaries in Fukuoka and Tokyo, that later in 2009 was incorporated to became the Japan Catholic Seminary.
Bishop-elect Shirahama has been the rector of the national seminary, under the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan, since 2012.
Father Alexis Mitsuru Shirahama, 54, was appointed as bishop of Hiroshima Diocese.