The Archbishop’s House has been disinfected with activities expected to resume in the days ahead, Fr. Dah told ACI Africa.
The news of the hospitalization of Cardinal Ouédraogo who is at the helm of SECAM, the forum that brings together the Catholic Bishops in Africa and Madagascar, was received with shock across the continent.
In various solidarity messages, Catholic Church leaders known to the Cardinal made known their prayerful and quick-recovery wishes, with Bishop Sithembele Sipuka, the 1st Vice President of SECAM, reassuring the Cardinal of other African Bishops’ closeness.
“We have informed all the Standing Committee Members and entrusted you to their prayers” Bishop Sipuka stated in his April 1 message availed to ACI Africa, adding in reference to COVID-19, “as this disease is now a global phenomenon, we include in our prayers the whole world for a quick arrest of the spread and for a cure to be found.”
In his Easter message, the 75-year-old Cardinal has expressed his gratitude to all who prayed for him and thanked God for his recovery from COVID-19.
“In this year 2020, the universal Church celebrated Easter in the context of the coronavirus pandemic; your Pastor was affected, and after a stay in the hospital, thank God, as you can see for yourself, everything is now in order,” Cardinal Ouédraogo wrote in his Easter Message dated April 8.
“I must observe a period of rest and remain in convalescence for a few more days before joining you,” the Burkinabe Prelate added.
He went on to renewed calls for solidarity in the care for patients diagnosed with the virus saying, “I would like, from the bottom of my heart as a Pastor, to launch a great cry for a profound impulse of solidarity at the local, regional and international level for those sick of COVID-19.”
“There is an urgent need for adequate means to save the many human lives affected,” he added.
The Burkinabe Cardinal underscored the importance of collective initiatives in the fight against the virus that has infected at least 1.43 million people across the globe saying, “One finger does not pick up flour, teaches an African Proverb. Let us therefore unite to drive this dreadful scourge with its unfortunate consequences out of our country and out of the world.”
