Michael R. Saso (born December 7, 1930) is an American Catholic priest and professor emeritus of the Department of Religion at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
He is a scholar of the religious practices of Japan and China, with a particular emphasis on Taoism.
Saso has translated Japanese and Chinese religious texts and related works and has written several books on Asian religion.
He left the order in the 1960s, and in 1968 married Nariko Akimoto, with whom he had two daughters.
Saso requested reinstatement to the Catholic priesthood in 1998 and is now connected with the New Life Center in Carmel, California, as a priest in the Diocese of San Jose.