Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Cardinal Kriengsak Kovithavanij from his position as Archbishop of Bangkok (Thailand) this June 27, when the cardinal turns 75, the retirement age for bishops.
This was reported today by the Vatican Press Office in a brief statement.
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Kovithavanij steps down as Archbishop of Bangkok after serving in that jurisdiction for almost 15 years. Although the Holy Father has not named a successor, he assumes the role of Bishop of Chang Mai, Bishop Vira Arpondratana, as Apostolic Administrator of the archdiocese.
The Code of Canon Law establishes in canon 401 that the retirement age for bishops is 75 years.
“A diocesan Bishop who has reached seventy-five years of age is requested to present the resignation of his office to the Supreme Pontiff, who will provide for it taking into account all the circumstances,” the canon states.
However, it is the power of the Pope to accept or not the resignation of the bishop who presents it, although he usually allows more time for the resignation to continue in his position.
Sources of Asia News in Bangkok they point out that, for some time, the second cardinal in the history of Thailand had “a distance” with “an important part of the clergy due to some decisions that were adopted in the government of the local Church. Therefore, the presentation of his resignation for having reached the age of 75 and the rapid acceptance of it was not a surprise.”
The archdiocese of Bangkok has 59 parishes where about 240 priests work.
Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij was born on June 27, 1949 in Bangkok. He was ordained a priest on July 11, 1976.
After working for a time as rector of the national major seminary of Sampran and parish priest of the cathedral, he was appointed Bishop of Nakhon Sawan on March 7, 2007, receiving episcopal consecration on June 2 of the same year.
He was appointed Archbishop of Bangkok on May 14, 2009.
Pope Francis created him a cardinal in the Consistory of February 14, 2015, becoming the second cardinal of Thailand, after his predecessor Michael Michai Kitbunchu, 95, who led the Archdiocese of Bangkok between 1973 and 2009, almost 36 years .
Walter Sanchez Silva
I have been a husband since 2008. My wife and I have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before he was born. Since I joined ACI Prensa in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Cologne, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and of Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the Family synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Synodality, in 2023. I closely follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers persecution from the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as current ecclesiastical events in the region.