Father Renzo De Luca SJ will assume office as Provincial of the Japan Province of the Society of Jesus on March 1. (Photo by Behrouz Mehri/AFP)
An Argentinian born priest has been appointed provincial of the Japan Province of the Society of Jesus.
Father Renzo De Luca SJ succeeds Father Yoshio Kajiyama SJ, and assumes office on March 1.
Born in born in Larroque, Entre Rios, Argentina in 1963, Father De Luca enters into his work as provincial with a long history of engagement not only with the Japan Province and in the context of its origins dating back to St. Francis Xavier, but also with the concrete issues facing the Jesuits around the world today.
During the juniorate stage of his formation, his superior was Father Jorge Bergoglio, now Pope Francis. Father De Luca was sent to Japan in 1985, where he mastered Japanese sufficiently to do his philosophy studies in Tokyo.
During this time, he hosted Father Bergoglio when he visited the Argentinian scholastics in Japan in 1987.
After being ordained in 1996 at St. Ignatius Church, Tokyo, Father De Luca later became Superior of the Nagasaki community from 2001 to 2007 and in 2014 was appointed superior of the combined Fukuoka-Nagasaki community.
He has been curator of the 26 Martyrs Museum in Nagasaki since October 2004, after serving as assistant curator for seven years.