Michael Michai Kitbunchu

Michael Michai Kitbunchu was born in Sam Phran, Thailand, on 25 January 1929, to parents of Chinese descent. Ordained a priest in Rome on 20 December 1959 by Cardinal Agagianian, with licentiates from the Urbaniana, he became rector of Bangkok's metropolitan seminary (1965–72). Paul VI appointed him the second Archbishop of Bangkok on 18 December 1972; he was installed and consecrated on 3 June 1973, and led the archdiocese for thirty-six years, retiring on 14 May 2009 as the oldest active head of an archdiocese in the Latin Church.

John Paul II created him a cardinal on 2 February 1983, with the title of San Lorenzo in Panisperna — Thailand's first cardinal. He presided over the Thai bishops' conference for four terms across three decades (the Holy See biography's count: 1979–82, 1985–91, 1994–97, 2000–06) and built up Bangkok's institutions, vocations, and seminary. Since 14 December 2016 he has been Protopriest of the College of Cardinals — its longest-serving member. He is known for hard lines: “Abortion is a great crime, because the one who should protect the child in her womb becomes the one who destroys the child,” and for refusing funeral Masses to drug traffickers. His motto is Per crucem ad lucem — “through the Cross, to light.”