Michael Michai Kitbunchu
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Michael Michai Cardinal Kitbunchu (Thai: ไมเกิ้ล มีชัย กิจบุญชู, born January 25, 1929) is the archbishop of the (Roman-Catholic) Archdiocese of Bangkok, Thailand since 1973. In 1983 he was elevated to be cardinal.
Born in Samphran, a district of Nakhon Pathom Province and an important Catholic enclave, he studied in a minor seminary at Si Racha and at the Pontifical Urban College of "Propaganda Fide" in Rome. He received a degree in philosophy and theology, and was ordained as a priest on December 20, 1959 by Cardinal Agagianian.
He returned to Thailand and became assistant pastor in Ban Paeng (Ayutthaya Province), in 1962 pastor of Bang Kham (Lopburi Province), and later given the important parish of Calvary in Bangkok. In 1965 he became rector of the metropolitan seminary, and was appointed as archbishop of Bangkok December 18, 1972 by Pope Paul VI. Ordained on June 3, 1973 by his predecessor archbishop Joseph Khiamsun Nittayo, he was elevated to cardinal on February 2, 1983. Holding the title of the titular church of St. Laurence in Panisperna, he is the first-ever Thai cardinal.
He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI.
[edit] References
- KITBUNCHU, HE Cardinal Michael Michai International Who's Who. accessed September 4, 2006.
