Most Rev. Bishop Richard Kuuia Baawobr, who was elected a cardinal by Pope Francis I in May and served as the former bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Wa, has passed away.
According to a formal announcement made by Father André-Léon Simonart, Secretary General of the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers), Most Rev. Bishop Baawobr passed away on Sunday, November 27.
At 5.45 p.m., he was carried by ambulance from the Generalate (Missionaries of Africa in Rome) to the Gemelli Hospital, but it took over an hour for him to be officially declared dead.
"May Richard rest in the peace of his Lord whom he so generously served," the official communication said.
Prior to a Vatican ceremony in which he was to receive a red biretta, Cardinal Kuuia Baawobr was hospitalized at the Santo Spirito Hospital in Rome due to illness.
But when he was in a Rome hospital, he received the title of Cardinal.
After being chosen as one of 21 by Pope Francis in May, Bishop Kuuia Baawobr became the third Bishop from Ghana to be made a Cardinal.
He held the position of first Assistant General of the Superior General of the Missionaries of Africa for six years prior to being named Bishop on Wa in February 2016.
In May 2010, he was chosen as the first African Superior General of the Catholic Congregation, which was established in 1868.
He was given the position of Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity by Pope Francis in October.