Mgr Francis Baldacchino, a Maltese bishop who dedicated 35 years of service to the Capuchin mission in Kenya passed away on Friday night.
For the last 10 years, Mgr Francis Baldacchino was the first Bishop of Malindi but was among the first group of missionaries who left for Garissa in 1974.
He focused his attention on the southern area in Mpeketoni and Lamu, and assisted health projects and the formation of a local Christian community. Between 1982 and 1988, he was elected Superior of the Mission and invested his energy in the formation of Kenyan Capuchins.
Mgr Baldacchino was elected Bishop of Malindi in 2000. But he did not live to see the results of his final mission - the arrival of the Cloistered Poor Clares from Uganda in the monastery he had just succeeded in completing. His medical condition led him to Malta on September 1. He was hospitalised a month ago.