Camillo Ballin (June 24, 1944 – April 12, 2020) was an Italian-Bahraini

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

bishop, writer,

missionary A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

, and educator who was the

Vicar Apostolic A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

of the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia.

Family and early life

Camillo Ballin, son of Lucia and Angelo Ballin, was born in Fontaniva, Italy on June 24, 1944. He died on 12 April 2020.

Career

Ballin was ordained Priest of the

Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus Bold text The Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus ( la, Missionarii Comboniani Cordis Iesu), abbreviated MCCJ, also known as the Comboni Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, or the Verona Fathers, and originally called the Sons of the Sacred ...

on March 30, 1969. Ballin began his priestly apostle in St. Joseph parish in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

in 1971, and then he served as Parish Priest from 1972 to 1977. From 1977 to 1980, Ballin was located first in Kaslik, in Lebanon, and then Pontificio Instituto Orientale, in Rome, for his Licentiate in Oriental liturgy. He was a professor at the Institute of Theology in Cairo from 1981 to 1990. In 1990, Ballin moved to Sudan and founded a training institute for religion teachers. From 1997 to 2000, Ballin returned to Rome for his doctorate on the Church history. In 2000, he was appointed Director of the Dar Comboni Center of Arab and Islamic Studies in Cairo, Egypt. On July 14, 2005,

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...

appointed Ballin as the Vicar Apostolic of Kuwait.

Publications

In 2004, Ballin published "The Ways of the Spirit" and "History of the Church" in Arabic.

Catholic Unity Congress

The Catholic Unity Congress was established in 2008 by the Pastoral Council at the Holy Family Cathedral in Kuwait City and led by Ballin as the head of the Catholic Church in Kuwait. The mission of the conference is to increase awareness that all Catholic groups "are one and united with the Lord."

Later life

Ballin resided in Awali in the Kingdom of

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

at the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...

Death

Ballin died in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in the evening of Easter Sunday (12 April 2020). He was undergoing treatment in Rome at the Gemelli Polyclinic since the last two months following diagnosis with

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...

. During this period, the bishops of the Latin Conference of the Arab Regions (CELRA) were able to visit him and spend a few moments with him as they convened in

from 17–20 February 2020 for their 70th Plenary assembly.