Most Rev. Richard Kuuia Baawobr, Catholic Bishop of the Wa Diocese in the Upper West Region has been named by Pope Francis as the new cardinal from Ghana.
Pope Francis made the announcement on Sunday, May 29 in Rome together with 20 other new cardinals for the Church.
Cardinals serve as chief officials of the Roman Curia (the papal bureaucracy), as bishops of major dioceses, and often as papal envoys.
They wear distinctive red attire, addressed as “Eminence,” and are known as princes of the church.
Membership bestows no heightened spiritual authority, but the cardinals have as their two chief duties assisting the pope in the government of the vast worldwide Church and, above all, electing new pontiff whom they serve. By ancient custom, they are called “princes” because of the diplomatic status their position gives them and also because in previous centuries many of the members belonged to the great noble families of Europe. Today most cardinals come from truly humble origins.
In 2016, the Holy Father appointed Rev. Fr. Richard Kuuia Baawobr, M. Afr., then Superior General of the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) as Bishop of the Diocese of Wa (Ghana).
Fr. Richard Kuuia Baawobr, M. Afr., was born on June 21, 1959 in Tom-Zendagangn, Diocese of Wa.
He attended the elementary school in the village, he continued his studies at St. Francis Xavier Minor Seminary and Nandom Secondary School.
He entered the St. Victor diocesan Major Seminary in Tamale in 1979, after his philosophical studies. In 1981 he went to the Society of Missionaries of Africa, where he continued his studies for priesthood. From 1981 to 1982 he was in Fribourg, Switzerland, for his Novitiate.
Subsequently, from 1982 to 1987, he completed his theological studies at the Missionary Institute London (MIL). On 5th December 1986 he professed his religious vows at St. Edward’s College, London and was ordained a priest on July 18, 1987.
Since his ordination, he has served the following pastoral and academic roles: 1987-1991: Assistant priest in Livulu, Archdiocese of Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo; 1991-1996: Student of exegesis at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome and at the Ignatian Spirituality at Le Chatelard in Lyon, in France, where he obtained a Licentiate in Sacred Scripture and a Doctorate in Biblical Theology; 1996-1999: Formator of the Missionaries of Africa in Kahangala, Tanzania; 1999-2004: Director of the formation house of Toulouse in France; 2004-2010: First Assistant General of the Missionaries of Africa.
Since 2010: Superior General of the Missionaries of Africa (the first African to hold this position), Vice Chancellor of PISAI (Pontifical Institute of Arabic-Islamic Studies).
He was elected by the Union of Superiors General to attend the Ordinary Assembly of the last Synod of Bishops on the Family, from 4 to 25 October 2015. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 18/02/2016)
Below are the names of the new cardinals:
Artur Roche, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
Lazzaro You Heung Sik, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy
Fernando Vergez, President of the Governorate SCV
Jean-Marc Noël Aveline, Archbishop of Marseille
Peter Ebere Okpaleke, Bishop of Ekwulobia (Nigeria)
Leonardo Ullrich, Archbishop of Manaus
Blacks António Sebastião Filipe do Rosário Ferrão Archbishop of Goa (India)
Robert McElroy, Archbishop of San Diego
Virgilio do Carmo Da Silva, Archbishop of East Timor
Oscar Cantoni, Bishop of Como
Anthomy Poola, Archbishop of Hyderabad (India)
Cesa Paulo Costa, Brasilia Archbishop
Richard Kuuia Baawobr, Bishop of Wa (Ghana)
William Goh, Archbishop of Singapore
Martines Adalberto Flores, Archbishop of Asuncion
Giorgio Marengo, Apostolic Prefect of Ulan Bator
In addition to these bishops, the Pope decided to create even five cardinals over eighty:
Jorge Enrique Jiménez Carvajal, Archbishop Emeritus of Cartagena (Colombia)
Lucas Van Looy, Bishop Emeritus of Gent
Arrigo Miglio, retired archbishop of Cagliari
P. Gianfranco Ghirlanda SI
Monsignor Fortunato Frezza.
By Vincent Kubi