Today, 27 May 2024, Pope Francis had a private audience with Fr Andrew Campbell, a missionary and Irish SVD priest who has lived and worked in Ghana for the past 53 years.
Paul Sammasmo – Vatican City.
Inspired by St. Teresa of Kolkata, India, Fr Andrew Campbell has dedicated his life to serving the poor and marginalized in Ghana, making a huge impact with his work with street children, people with disabilities such as leprosy, and generally the disadvantaged.
I became a worker at the age of 13.
“I was a labourer when I was 13, so I know what it’s like to have no education and I don’t want anybody to go through what I went through…. There are 100,000 street children living on the streets of Accra, from young children to adults…. But I live with the lepers, I help them, I make sure they are healthy, fed, everything is OK. I live with them and I meet their needs,” Father Campbell said.
Meeting with Pope Francis
talk Vatican NewAfter meeting with Pope Francis, Father Campbell expressed his great joy at the encounter.
“Words can’t describe it. It was so wonderful to meet him (Pope Francis). This man has always fascinated me with his love for the poor,” Father Campbell said.
Fr Campbell was accompanied by his Ghanaian wife Gabriel Asempa Antwi and his wife Priscilla in their meeting with the Pope at the Vatican. Also present was Ghana’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Italy, Her Excellency Meleene Bozio Benya, who was accompanied by her beloved husband, Mr Henry Benya.
From mangoes to a new mission
It all started when a leper gave Father Campbell a bag of mangoes. The priest did not eat them, fearing that he might catch the disease. Then his conscience took over. He went to see where the lepers were staying. He was appalled by the conditions and from there he began his mission work to the marginalized people of Ghana.