Japanese Cardinal Stephen Fumio Hamao, who headed the Vatican's office for migrants for eight years, has died at age 77, the Vatican said Friday.

Hamao died Thursday in Tokyo, according to a Vatican statement.

Hamao served as bishop of Yokohama for nearly 20 years before being appointed president of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples in 1998.

He was made a cardinal in 2003 and retired from his Vatican job in 2006.

In a message of condolence sent to Hamao's sister and the bishop of Yokohama, Pope Benedict XVI praised the cardinal's "lively concern for the poor and generous service to the universal church."