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Ghanaian Cardinal Discharged from Hospital in Rome, Thankful for Spiritual Solidarity

Richard Kuuia Cardinal Baawobr of Ghana's Wa Diocese. Credit: SECAM

The recently elevated Cardinal from Ghana who has been in hospital in Roma after undergoing a heart surgery in September has been discharged.

Richard Kuuia Cardinal Baawobr was hospitalized at the Santo Spirito Hospital in Rome just before the August 27 Consistory during which he was to receive a red biretta from Pope Francis alongside 19 others from across the globe.

In a statement published Tuesday, November 22, the Vicar General of Ghana’s Catholic Diocese of Wa says, “I wish to inform you that, last Friday, 18 November 2022, His Eminence, Richard Cardinal Kuuia Baawobr, M.Afr, the Bishop of Wa, was discharged from Agostino Gemelli University Hospital/Policlinic where he had been transferred on Saturday, 15th October 2022.” 

Fr. Cornelius Naah Bayirinoba says the Cardinal is currently staying at the Generalate of the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) in Rome.

The Catholic Church leader who has been at the helm of Wa Diocese since 2016 is in Rome “to rest and to regain his strength,” Fr. Bayirinoba says, adding, “His Eminence needs follow up checks.” 

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Richard Cardinal Kuusa Baawobr has asked me to thank every one of you for your prayers, good wishes and every support. He takes nothing for granted and reassures us of his closeness in prayer,” the Vicar General of Wa Diocese says about the Catholic Church leader  who was named Cardinal on May 29 alongside 20 others from across the globe, including Peter Ebere Cardinal Okpaleke of Nigeria’s Catholic Diocese of Ekwulobia (CADEK).

The fact that the 63-year-old member of the Missionaries of Africa did not attend the August 27 Consistory that the Holy Father presided over in St. Peter’s Basilica did not prevent him from being elevated to the College of Cardinals.

Cardinal Baawobr was elected head of the African Bishops’ conference, the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), in July.

He is the third Ghanaian Cardinal after the late Peter Cardinal Dery and the Vatican-based Peter Appiah Cardinal Turkson.

Magdalene Kahiu is a Kenyan journalist with passion in Church communication. She holds a Degree in Social Communications from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). Currently, she works as a journalist for ACI Africa.