The world misses a smiling cardinal

The World will miss a smiling Cardinal in the person of the late Richard Cardinal Kuuia Baawobr.

Born on June 21, 1959, he rose from being a religious priest to being a Cardinal, one of the Highest titles that one can attain in the Catholic Church. A title just below that of the Pope.

Cardinal Baawobr was born in Tom-Zendagangn, in the Nandom Municipal Assembly of Ghana on June 21, 1959. After attending the village primary school, St. Francis Xavier Minor Seminary, and Nandom Secondary School, he was admitted in 1979 to the St. Victor major seminary in Tamale for his philosophical studies.

He then joined the Society of Missionaries of Africa in 1981 and continued
his preparation for the priesthood. He fulfilled his novitiate in Friboug Switzerland by 1982. He then moved to the Missionary Institute, London his theological studies, and completed in 1987.

He made his religious vows at St. Edward's College in London on 5 December 1986 and was ordained a priest on 18 July 1987.

From 1987 to 1991, he was parish vicar in Livulu in the Archdiocese of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Studying exegesis at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome and Ignatian spirituality at Le Chatelard in Lyon, France, between 1991 and 1996, he earned a licentiate in sacred scripture as well as a doctorate in Biblical theology.

From 1996 to 1999, he was his Order's formator in Kahangala, Tanzania. From 1999 to 2004 he was director of their Toulouse formation house. From 2004 to 2010 he was first assistant general of the Order.

In 2010 he was elected to a six-year term as the Order's superior general, the first African to hold that position serving as well as Vice Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical Institute for Arab-Islamic Studies (PISAI).

The Union of Superiors General selected him to attend the Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Family in October 2015.

As a member of the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) he worked in the Democratic Republic of Congo, France, Tanzania before returning to Ghana when he was made Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Wa.

The appointment was on February 17, 2016, and he received his episcopal
consecration on 7 May 2016 from Cardinal Peter Turkson. Cardinal Baawobr was also appointed a member and consultor of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity on July 4, 2020.

On May 29, 2022, Pope Francis announced that he would make Baawobr a cardinal at a consistory scheduled for August. He was subsequently made the Cardinal on August 27, 2022 during the said consistory.

He was a man with an infectious smile. And would greet all, young or old, great or small, with a smile. Mother Theresa once said that “Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love” And this was concretely exemplified in the life of the late Cardinal.

Going by the saying of Mother Theresa, it appears being a missionary was cut out for him in life as he had that trait of smiling from his youthful days all to the end. Being a missionary, whose work has taken him to different parts of the World, He lived out fully his missionary zeal even through his smiles.

His smile made him welcoming, approachable and the Man of the People. As a Man of the People, following his appointment as a Cardinal many were looking forward to receiving him back in Wa with pump and pageantry. Therefore, after several postponements, it became a worry to many. When news came that he was discharged from the Hospital, many were relieved and expecting him in Ghana.

Cardinal Baawobr was elected president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) on 30 July at a plenary assembly in Accra. He became the first Ghanaian to hold that position. Also as President of the Symposium of Episcopal Conference of Africa and Madagascar(SECAM), that position made him the leader of the Catholic Church in Africa, a continent of which 1 in 5 is Catholic or some 251.6 million Catholics ( 19.5 per cent of the Population of the African Continent) as at 2021.

In his passing, several thousands of mourners thronged the Wa Sports Stadium to bid farewell to Richard Cardinal Kuuia Baawobr. His death has dealt a blow to the Diocese of WA and for that matter, Ghana the world.

His untimely demise in no doubt has denied the Catholic Diocese of Wa, Ghana, Africa and the whole world of a smiling Cardinal. Indeed the world will miss a smiling Cardinal.