<\/p>\n
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Ghana\u2019s Cardinal\u00a0Richard Kuuia Baawobr\u00a0is expected to undergo heart surgery in Rome by the end of this week, according to the spokesman for the\u00a0Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference.<\/p>\n
The African cardinal\u00a0was hospitalised\u00a0in the Santo Spirito Hospital in Rome last week shortly before the Vatican ceremony in which\u00a0he was to receive\u00a0a red biretta from Pope Francis.<\/p>\n
Father Dieu-Donne Kofi Davor, the communications director for the Ghana Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference, told CNA on 31 August that the \u201csurgery will take place before the week ends.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are praying for his speedy recovery and return to Ghana soon,\u201d Davor said.<\/p>\n
Baawobr\u2019s absence from the consistory presided over by Pope Francis in St. Peter\u2019s Basilica did not prevent him from being elevated to the College of Cardinals on 27 August.<\/p>\n
The 63-year-old received the title of cardinal while being treated in the Roman hospital. Pope Francis asked people to pray for Baawobr at the end of his homily for the consistory.<\/p>\n
Baawobr was recently elected head of the African bishops\u2019 conference, the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), at the end of July.<\/p>\n
He has led the Diocese of Wa, in northwest Ghana, since 2016, and is known locally for his charity and care for people with mental disabilities in a country where the stigmatization of mental illness is still high.<\/p>\n
Six years ago he launched a diocesan street ministry that brings together parish volunteers and health care professionals to provide care and medical assistance for people with mental disabilities who have been abandoned by their families.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think each one of us, wherever we are, we are called to serve, and that is what will make us great, not the title,\u201d Baawobr said in an interview with ACI Africa, CNA\u2019s Nairobi-based news partner, before traveling to Rome for the consistory.<\/p>\n
Before he became Bishop of Wa, Baawobr was the first African to serve as the superior general of the Missionaries of Africa, commonly called the \u201cWhite Fathers\u201d for their distinctive white cassocks.<\/p>\n
The current superior of the Missionaries of Africa is one of the only people who has been allowed to visit Baawobr while he has been hospitalised in Rome, according to Davor.<\/p>\n
A delegation from the diocese of Wa, who accompanied Baawobr to Italy for the consistory, has been able to continue with its scheduled pilgrimages to basilicas in Rome and Assisi despite the cardinal\u2019s medical problems.<\/p>\n
Baawobr was one of two newly created cardinals from Africa, along with Cardinal Peter Okpaleke from Nigeria\u2019s Ekwulobia Diocese, in Saturday\u2019s ceremony.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not want to end without recalling Cardinal Richard Kuuia Baawobr, Bishop of Wa, who yesterday, upon his arrival in Rome, felt bad and was hospitalised with a heart problem,\u201d Pope Francis said at the consistory.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet us pray for this brother who ought to have been here and is hospitalised,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ghana\u2019s Cardinal\u00a0Richard Kuuia Baawobr\u00a0is expected to undergo heart surgery in Rome by the end of this week, according to the spokesman for the\u00a0Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference. The African cardinal\u00a0was hospitalised\u00a0in the Santo Spirito Hospital in Rome last week shortly before the Vatican ceremony in which\u00a0he was to receive\u00a0a red biretta from Pope Francis. Father Dieu-Donne […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1197199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[187],"tags":[22862,250,48,2328,2329],"class_list":["post-1197198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics","tag-cardinal","tag-ghanas","tag-heart","tag-surgery","tag-undergoes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1197198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1197198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1197198\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1197198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1197198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1197198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}