American Jesuit to lead Church in Kyrgyzstan

August 30, 2017

Pope Francis has named Father Anthony Corcoran, SJ, as apostolic administrator of the Church in Kyrgyzstan, a central Asian nation that was once part of the Soviet Union.

The nation of 6.0 million is 80% Muslim and 17% Russian Orthodox.

Born in 1963, Father Corcoran entered the Jesuit order in 1985 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1996. Since 1997, he has served as a missionary in Russia, first in Siberia, and then as Jesuit superior in Moscow.

“Several decades of state-imposed policies of aggressive atheism resulted in a truly wounded society,” he said in a 2014 interview.

“Likewise, here—as elsewhere—the two most recent decades of exposure to a highly globalized and often uncontrolled free-market economic system, with little sense of social responsibility, continues to inflict damage,” he added. “The observation of many is that these systems have bred a cynicism and skepticism in modern human society and in the hearts of many individuals.”

 

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Further information:

• Resignations and Appointments (Holy See Press Office)
• With God in the Russian Mission: Q&A with Father Anthony Corcoran, S.J. (America)