The archbishop of Tokyo will be promoted to cardinal, becoming the seventh Japanese to be appointed to the second highest rank in the Catholic Church.
Pope Francis announced the names of 21 new cardinals, including Kikuchi Isao, on Sunday. They will be promoted to cardinals in a Consistory on December 8.
Kikuchi will be the seventh Japanese to serve in the post, following Maeda Manyo, who was appointed in 2018.
Born in Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan, the 65-year-old Kikuchi has been the archbishop of Tokyo since 2017 after serving as the bishop of Niigata.
Cardinals take the role of advising the pope. Only cardinals under the age of 80 are eligible to vote in a Conclave, which elects a new pope.
The scheduled appointments will increase the number of cardinals to 256. Of those, 141 will be of voting age.