Latest news with #Turkson
RTÉ News
06-05-2025
- Politics
- RTÉ News
Africa's Cardinal Peter Turkson is continent's papal frontrunner
A contender to be pope? With no official campaigning or list of candidates, there is much speculation about who will succeed Pope Francis. Here is one cardinal cited by some as a potential frontrunner. Ghana's Cardinal Peter Turkson is seen as one of the Church's most influential men from Africa, where Christianity is quickly growing - and which some believe could be the birthplace of the next pope. The 76-year-old born into a humble family of 10 children is the first clergyman from the west African country to receive a red hat, having been made cardinal in 2003 by John Paul II. Cardinal Turkson currently serves as chancellor for two pontifical academies, that of sciences and social sciences. Even before former pope Benedict XVI's surprise resignation in 2013, the cardinal had been considered Africa's frontrunner for papal contender - generating countless speculative headlines about the first black pope. But he demurred in a 2010 interview: "I wouldn't want to be that first black pope." "I think he'll have a rough time." The possibility of Cardinal Turkson as pope reflects shifting Church demographics - from Europe, where membership is dwindling, to Africa, where Christianity is growing the fastest. Born in the southern mining town of Nsuta-Wassa, he was the fourth of 10 children to a Methodist mother who sold vegetables and a Catholic father, a carpenter. He was ordained in 1975 before leaving Ghana to study in Rome and New York. In 1992, then-pope John Paul II named him the Archbishop of Cape Coast, a diocese of about 300,000 Catholics that grew under his watch. In 2003, the pontiff promoted him to cardinal. Poverty, witchcraft In Ghana in 2008, Cardinal Turkson acted as mediator on a peace council following close elections that threatened to erupt into violence. A year later he was chosen by Benedict XVI for a key role within a special assembly for Africa by the Synod of Bishops, weighing in on such topics as reconciliation, poverty, AIDS, the brain drain and witchcraft. Pope Benedict again tapped him in 2009 as president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, charged with social justice and human rights. As part of a reform of the Roman Curia - the government of the Holy See - Pope Francis in 2016 named Cardinal Turkson head of a newly created department, the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, that merged the justice and peace council with three others. Shepherding the economic and social issues deemed priorities to Pope Francis, including the environment, Cardinal Turkson - who speaks six languages - visited the World Economic Forum in Davos multiple times to convince business leaders of the perils of trickle-down economics. In 2016, he was dispatched as papal special envoy to South Sudan to try to reconcile warring parties, and during the Covid-19 pandemic, he headed a task force to study the crisis' economic and social fallout. But he resigned as prefect of the dicastery in a 2021 shakeup following an external review and rumoured internal tensions within the division, leaving no Africans among the Vatican's top posts. Lively prayer Although he has criticised anti-gay legislation in Uganda, he defends Catholic sexual morality and has denied that homosexuality is a human rights issue. On the key issue in Africa of condoms, he has suggested they could be useful for monogamous couples in which one partner is HIV-positive, but also that money would be better spent on anti-retroviral drugs for those already infected. Cardinal Turkson had to apologise in 2012 after a high-profile blunder in which he showed a scare-mongering YouTube video about the rising rate of Muslims in the world during a synod of bishops. Regarding Africans' view of Catholicism, he has suggested that the Evangelical movement has done a better job at converting because the Church has become too cerebral, while Evangelism appeals "to the heart, with lively music, lively prayer". "Sometimes we Africans make fun of how Europeans and Americans are such enthusiastic sports fans," Cardinal Turkson said in 2012. "They can yell and shout and sing their hearts out at a soccer or football game, but in church even to sing a hymn seems to be such a penitential exercise."
eNCA
01-05-2025
- Politics
- eNCA
Africa's Cardinal Turkson is continent's papal frontrunner
Cardinal Peter Turkson VATICAN CITY, Holy See - Ghana's Cardinal Peter Turkson is seen as one of the Church's most influential men from Africa, where Christianity is quickly growing -- and which some believe could be the birthplace of the next pope. The 76-year-old born into a humble family of 10 children is the first clergyman from the West African country to receive a red hat, having been made cardinal in 2003 by John Paul II. Turkson currently serves as chancellor for two pontifical academies, that of sciences and social sciences. Even before former Pope Benedict XVI's surprise resignation in 2013, the cardinal had been considered Africa's frontrunner for papal contender -- generating countless speculative headlines about the first black pope. But Turkson demurred in a 2010 interview: "I wouldn't want to be that first black pope." "I think he'll have a rough time." The possibility of Turkson as pope reflects shifting Church demographics -- from Europe, where membership is dwindling, to Africa, where Christianity is growing the fastest. Born in the southern mining town of Nsuta-Wassa, Turkson was the fourth of 10 children to a Methodist mother who sold vegetables and a Catholic father, a carpenter. He was ordained in 1975 before leaving Ghana to study in Rome and New York. In 1992, then-Pope John Paul II named Turkson the Archbishop of Cape Coast, a diocese of about 300,000 Catholics that grew under his watch. In 2003, the pontiff promoted him to cardinal. Poverty, witchcraft In Ghana in 2008, Turkson acted as mediator on a peace council following close elections that threatened to erupt into violence. A year later, he was chosen by Benedict XVI for a key role within a special assembly for Africa by the Synod of Bishops, weighing in on such topics as reconciliation, poverty, AIDS, the brain drain and witchcraft. Benedict again tapped Turkson in 2009 as president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, charged with social justice and human rights. As part of a reform of the Roman Curia -- the government of the Holy See -- Pope Francis in 2016 named Turkson head of a newly created department, the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, that merged the justice and peace council with three others. Shepherding the economic and social issues deemed priorities to Francis, including the environment, Turkson -- who speaks six languages -- visited the World Economic Forum in Davos multiple times to convince business leaders of the perils of trickle-down economics. In 2016, he was dispatched as papal special envoy to South Sudan to try to reconcile warring parties, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, he headed a task force to study the crisis' economic and social fallout. But Turkson resigned as prefect of the dicastery in a 2021 shakeup following an external review and rumoured internal tensions within the division, leaving no Africans among the Vatican's top posts. Lively prayer Although Turkson has criticised anti-gay legislation in Uganda, he defends Catholic sexual morality and has denied that homosexuality is a human rights issue. On the key issue in Africa of condoms, he has suggested they could be useful for monogamous couples in which one partner is HIV-positive, but also that money would be better spent on anti-retroviral drugs for those already infected. Turkson had to apologise in 2012 after a high-profile blunder in which he showed a scare-mongering YouTube video about the rising rate of Muslims in the world during a synod of bishops. Regarding Africans' view of Catholicism, Turkson has suggested that the Evangelical movement has done a better job at converting because the Church has become too cerebral, while Evangelism appeals "to the heart, with lively music, lively prayer". "Sometimes we Africans make fun of how Europeans and Americans are such enthusiastic sports fans," Turkson said in 2012.
ITV News
01-05-2025
- Politics
- ITV News
Could the next pope be Ghanaian? Hopes rise in country as Conclave vote nears
As the election of a new Pontiff nears, could the next head of the Catholic church be from Ghana? ITV News Correspondent Rachel Townsend reports on the growing excitement in the capital, Accra. On almost every street corner in Ghana's capital, Accra, is a proclamation of faith. 'To God be the Glory' is one I am currently looking at from my hotel room. In giant font, it covers 15 floors of a modern business block. Much against Western trends, there is a renewed appetite for religion here; it is capturing the hearts and minds of youth, and the number of faithful is on the rise. According to the Vatican, Africa now has the fastest-growing Roman Catholic population. Yet never in the modern age has there been an African Pope. Could that be about to change? Cardinal Turkson will join next week's Conclave at the Vatican as a Cardinal. Given the secrecy around this centuries-old ritual, whether he comes out as a pope is impossible to predict. But there is growing excitement in one corner of West Africa that Cardinal Turkson – born and raised in a shanty town, the son of a carpenter and vegetable seller – could be the next leader of the Catholic church. Described as a fun, mischievous little boy, he cemented his faith during his years at a seminary in the town of Cape Coast. The town was the departure point for enslaved Africans – their last sight of Africa before leaving for the Americas. It is now a bustling fishing town and a place where many remember their former student, turned scholar, Bishop and then Archbishop. 'He brought this place to life," Father Robert Snyper told ITV News. He was taught by Cardinal Turkson at St Peter's Seminary. 'He taught us so well," he added. Fr Snyper described a deeply intelligent man, devoted to prayer and to his faith. I asked him what he thought Cardinal Turkson valued most about his ministry 'His teaching," he replied. "Whether as a lecturer, or a bishop or a cardinal. It was always his teaching.' I ask him where a Pope Turkson would want to take the church: 'I think he would want to carry on the work of Pope Francis. He would make it a church for the marginalised and a church for the poor.' There are currently 262 young men training to be priests here. They live humble lives; days are spent in deep theological study, but there is a buzz here too. The next pope could have walked these corridors, sat at their desks. 'A black pope, it's huge,' Rev Michael Owusu-Amponsah said. He is in his final year at the seminary. 'He could have sat right here. It is historic. It will make Ghana proud, and it will make this institution very, very proud.' That pride spreads further, into the town of Cape Coast and well beyond. 'I think the next pope could be from Ghana!' a lady selling fish told me. I asked her how she feels about that. 'It makes me happy," she replied. There is also a feeling that having Cardinal Turkson in the Papal office would put Ghana on the map. And it could change outdated stereotypes about Africa as a whole. We meet Ekow Simpson, a YouTuber filming himself by the harbour in Cape Coast. He has little interest in the church but recognises this is a huge opportunity for Ghana. "The pope, I know everybody was looking up to him in terms of Christian life... but if Pope Turkson become the next pope, I'm even calling him pope already, then it means that I would want him to do something that will put Ghana on the next level," he told ITV News. "Change the status of Ghana economically, culturally, traditionally, and even in networking with people outside Ghana. "To change the views of Ghana, because I know outside - not Ghana alone - in Africa, the story is always different. "So if we have an African being a pope to the world, then I believe this is an opportunity for him to tell a different story, change the narrative about Africa to the world."This is a critical time for the Catholic church. In many ways, Cardinal Turkson would be seen as progressive. He is likely to continue along the path set by Pope Francis, championing the disadvantaged, the isolated and the marginalised. But overwhelmingly, the faithful in Ghana are conservative thinkers. Most cannot accept, for example, same sex relationships. And that is something that remains difficult for practising Catholics here to be challenged on. I asked Fr Snyper: 'Pope Francis held some perhaps more liberal views on things like sexuality. Do you think that is something Cardinal Turkson would continue?' He then said: 'I don't know his personal views, but the Church is actually for the poor. The Church is actually for the marginalised. The church is actually for people that nobody wants to talk to. And this is what he tries to bring to consciousness."Does that include homosexuals? I then asked. He replied: "Well, I think Pope Francis and then also Cardinal Turkson will dwell on this biblical episode in which Jesus asked the people to throw stones at a woman who was caught in adultery." I then interjected: "And that for you is symbolic?" "Nobody was able to throw the stone," he answered.I ask him about Pope Francis' now-famous comment: 'Who am I to judge' when asked about homosexuality. Does he think Cardinal Turkson will share the view of Pope Francis when he now famously expressed, 'Who am I to judge?' 'I think he will continue from that line, yes.' And I got the sense that that is as far as any practising Catholic priest here would ever go. Cardinal Turkson will join the Conclave next Wednesday, May 7. Then the wait for the white smoke begins.
IOL News
01-05-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Cardinal Peter Turkson: Africa's potential papal contender
Ghanaian cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson. Image: Andreas Solaro / AFP Ghana's Cardinal Peter Turkson is seen as one of the Church's most influential men from Africa, where Christianity is quickly growing, and which some believe could be the birthplace of the next pope. The 76-year-old born into a humble family of 10 children is the first clergyman from the west African country to receive a red hat, having been made cardinal in 2003 by John Paul II. Turkson currently serves as chancellor for two pontifical academies, that of sciences and social sciences. Even before former pope Benedict XVI's surprise resignation in 2013, the cardinal had been considered Africa's frontrunner for papal contender, generating countless speculative headlines about the first black pope. But Turkson demurred in a 2010 interview: "I wouldn't want to be that first black pope." "I think he'll have a rough time." The possibility of Turkson as pope reflects shifting Church demographics, from Europe, where membership is dwindling, to Africa, where Christianity is growing the fastest. Born in the southern mining town of Nsuta-Wassa, Turkson was the fourth of 10 children to a Methodist mother who sold vegetables and a Catholic father, a carpenter. He was ordained in 1975 before leaving Ghana to study in Rome and New York. In 1992, then-pope John Paul II named Turkson the Archbishop of Cape Coast, a diocese of about 300,000 Catholics that grew under his watch. In 2003, the pontiff promoted him to cardinal. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. 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A year later he was chosen by Benedict XVI for a key role within a special assembly for Africa by the Synod of Bishops, weighing in on such topics as reconciliation, poverty, AIDS, the brain drain and witchcraft. Benedict again tapped Turkson in 2009 as president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, charged with social justice and human rights. As part of a reform of the Roman Curia, the government of the Holy See, Pope Francis in 2016 named Turkson head of a newly created department, the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, that merged the justice and peace council with three others. Shepherding the economic and social issues deemed priorities to Francis, including the environment, Turkson, who speaks six languages, visited the World Economic Forum in Davos multiple times to convince business leaders of the perils of trickle-down economics. In 2016, he was dispatched as papal special envoy to South Sudan to try to reconcile warring parties, and during the Covid-19 pandemic, he headed a task force to study the crisis' economic and social fallout. But Turkson resigned as prefect of the dicastery in a 2021 shakeup following an external review and rumoured internal tensions within the division, leaving no Africans among the Vatican's top posts. Lively prayer Although Turkson has criticised anti-gay legislation in Uganda, he defends Catholic sexual morality and has denied that homosexuality is a human rights issue. On the key issue in Africa of condoms, he has suggested they could be useful for monogamous couples in which one partner is HIV-positive, but also that money would be better spent on anti-retroviral drugs for those already infected. Turkson had to apologise in 2012 after a high-profile blunder in which he showed a scare-mongering YouTube video about the rising rate of Muslims in the world during a synod of bishops. Regarding Africans' view of Catholicism, Turkson has suggested that the Evangelical movement has done a better job at converting because the Church has become too cerebral, while Evangelism appeals "to the heart, with lively music, lively prayer". "Sometimes we Africans make fun of how Europeans and Americans are such enthusiastic sports fans," Turkson said in 2012. "They can yell and shout and sing their hearts out at a soccer or football game, but in church even to sing a hymn seems to be such a penitential exercise." AFP
Time of India
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Africa's Cardinal Turkson is continent's papal frontrunner
VATICAN CITY: Ghana's Cardinal Peter Turkson is seen as one of the Church's most influential men from Africa, where Christianity is quickly growing -- and which some believe could be the birthplace of the next pope. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The 76-year-old born into a humble family of 10 children is the first clergyman from the west African country to receive a red hat, having been made cardinal in 2003 by John Paul II. Turkson currently serves as chancellor for two pontifical academies, that of sciences and social sciences. Even before former pope Benedict XVI's surprise resignation in 2013, the cardinal had been considered Africa's frontrunner for papal contender -- generating countless speculative headlines about the first black pope . But Turkson demurred in a 2010 interview: "I wouldn't want to be that first black pope." "I think he'll have a rough time." The possibility of Turkson as pope reflects shifting Church demographics -- from Europe, where membership is dwindling, to Africa, where Christianity is growing the fastest. Born in the southern mining town of Nsuta-Wassa, Turkson was the fourth of 10 children to a Methodist mother who sold vegetables and a Catholic father, a carpenter. He was ordained in 1975 before leaving Ghana to study in Rome and New York. In 1992, then-pope John Paul II named Turkson the Archbishop of Cape Coast, a diocese of about 300,000 Catholics that grew under his watch. In 2003, the pontiff promoted him to cardinal. Poverty, witchcraft In Ghana in 2008, Turkson acted as mediator on a peace council following close elections that threatened to erupt into violence. A year later he was chosen by Benedict XVI for a key role within a special assembly for Africa by the Synod of Bishops, weighing in on such topics as reconciliation, poverty, AIDS, the brain drain and witchcraft. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Benedict again tapped Turkson in 2009 as president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, charged with social justice and human rights. As part of a reform of the Roman Curia -- the government of the Holy See -- Pope Francis in 2016 named Turkson head of a newly created department, the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, that merged the justice and peace council with three others. Shepherding the economic and social issues deemed priorities to Francis, including the environment, Turkson -- who speaks six languages -- visited the World Economic Forum in Davos multiple times to convince business leaders of the perils of trickle-down economics. In 2016, he was dispatched as papal special envoy to South Sudan to try to reconcile warring parties, and during the Covid-19 pandemic, he headed a task force to study the crisis' economic and social fallout. But Turkson resigned as prefect of the dicastery in a 2021 shakeup following an external review and rumoured internal tensions within the division, leaving no Africans among the Vatican's top posts. Lively prayer Although Turkson has criticised anti-gay legislation in Uganda, he defends Catholic sexual morality and has denied that homosexuality is a human rights issue. On the key issue in Africa of condoms, he has suggested they could be useful for monogamous couples in which one partner is HIV-positive, but also that money would be better spent on anti-retroviral drugs for those already infected. Turkson had to apologise in 2012 after a high-profile blunder in which he showed a scare-mongering YouTube video about the rising rate of Muslims in the world during a synod of bishops. Regarding Africans' view of Catholicism, Turkson has suggested that the Evangelical movement has done a better job at converting because the Church has become too cerebral, while Evangelism appeals "to the heart, with lively music, lively prayer". "Sometimes we Africans make fun of how Europeans and Americans are such enthusiastic sports fans," Turkson said in 2012. "They can yell and shout and sing their hearts out at a soccer or football game, but in church even to sing a hymn seems to be such a penitential exercise."
