Peter Turkson | |
|---|---|
| |
.jpg) Turkson in 2017 | |
| Church | Catholic Church |
| Appointed | 4 April 2022 |
| Predecessor | Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo |
| Other post(s) | Cardinal Priest ofSan Liborio (2003–) |
| Previous post(s) | |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 20 July 1975 by John Kodwo Amissah |
| Consecration | 27 March 1993 by Dominic Kodwo Andoh |
| Created cardinal | 21 October 2003 byPope John Paul II |
| Rank | Cardinal Priest |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson (1948-10-11)11 October 1948 (age 76) Wassaw Nsuta,Gold Coast |
| Nationality | Ghanaian |
| Denomination | Catholic (Roman Rite) |
| Alma mater | St. Teresa's Seminary- Amisano, Ghana |
| Motto | Vivere Christus est (To live is Christ) |
| Coat of arms |  |
| Styles of Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson | |
|---|---|
| |
| Reference style | His Eminence |
| Spoken style | Your Eminence |
| Informal style | Cardinal |
Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson (born 11 October 1948) is a Ghanaian prelate andcardinal of theCatholic Church who has served as chancellor of thePontifical Academies of Sciences since 2022.[1] He was president of thePontifical Council for Justice and Peace from 2009 to 2017 and the inaugural prefect of theDicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development from 2017 to 2021.[2]
Turkson wasArchbishop of Cape Coast from 1992 to 2009. He was made a cardinal byPope John Paul II in 2003. He has been widely regarded aspapabile, that is, a candidate for election to the papacy.The Tablet described him in 2013 as "one of Africa's most energetic church leaders".[3]
Turkson was born in Wassa Nsuta inWestern Ghana to aMethodist mother and a Catholic father.[4] He is the fourth child of ten children. His mother sold vegetables in the open market while his father worked as a carpenter. He had a paternal uncle who was a Muslim.[5] He studied at St. Teresa's Minor Seminary in Amisano and St. Peter's Regional Seminary in Pedu before attendingSt. Anthony-on-Hudson Seminary inRensselaer, New York, where he graduated with anM.A. in Theology and aMaster of Divinity. He wasordained to the priesthood by ArchbishopJohn Amissah on 20 July 1975. Additionally, he earned alicentiate inSacred Scripture from thePontifical Biblical Institute in Rome in 1980. He returned to St Teresa's for a year, 1980–81, and became vice-rector at St Peter's Seminary in 1981. He also didpastoral work in aparish annexed to the seminary. From 1987 to 1992, he pursued doctoral studies in Sacred Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute but his work on his thesis was interrupted by his appointment as archbishop of Cape Coast.
On 6 October 1992, Turkson was appointedArchbishop of Cape Coast by Pope John Paul II. He received hisepiscopal consecration on 27 March 1993 from Archbishop Dominic Kodwo Andoh, with ArchbishopsPeter Poreku Dery and Peter Kwasi Sarpong serving asco-consecrators. He served as President of the GhanaCatholic Bishops' Conference from 1997 to 2005, and asChancellor of theCatholic University College of Ghana beginning in 2003.[citation needed]
John Paul II created TurksonCardinal-Priest ofSan Liborio in his finalconsistory of 21 October 2003. Turkson is the first Ghanaian cardinal and was one of thecardinal electors who participated in thepapal conclave of 2005 that electedPope Benedict XVI and thepapal conclave of 2013 that elected Pope Francis.[citation needed]
On 24 October 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Turkson president of thePontifical Council for Justice and Peace.[6] Turkson is also a member of theCongregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, theCongregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, thePontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, thePontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church and, since 4 March 2010, thePontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses.[7] On 12 June 2012, Turkson was appointed a member of theCongregation for Catholic Education.[8]
On 16 October 2010, Pope Benedict named him to a five-year renewable term as a member of theCongregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.[9][10] Since 2009, Turkson had been president of thePontifical Council for Justice and Peace.
In the spring of 2011, Pope Benedict XVI sent Cardinal Turkson as a mediator to contribute to a diplomatic, non-military solution to the civil conflict inIvory Coast, whereLaurent Gbagbo had refused, in spite of international condemnation and local protests and resistance, to step aside and hand over power toAlassane Ouattara, the certified winner of the presidential election.Atrocities have been committed by both sides.[11]
In October 2011, Turkson called for the establishment of a "global public authority" and a "central world bank" to rule over financial institutions that have become outdated and often ineffective in dealing fairly with crises. His text was very specific, calling for taxation measures on financial transactions.[12] It said that "The economic and financial crisis which the world is going through calls everyone, individuals and peoples, to examine in depth the principles and the cultural and moral values at the basis of social coexistence". The document condemned "the idolatry of the market" as well as "neo-liberal thinking" that looked exclusively at technical solutions to economic problems. "In fact, the crisis has revealed behaviours like selfishness, collective greed and hoarding of goods on a great scale." It added that world economics needed an "ethic of solidarity" among bothrich andpoor nations.[13][14]
On 13 October 2012, at a Vatican conference of bishops meant to address evangelizing lapsed Catholics, Turkson showed aYouTube video called "Muslim Demographics" that makes alarmist predictions about the growth of Islam in Europe, a video Reuters called "spurious".[15]Vatican Radio described it as a "fear-mongering presentation".[16] It resulted in "the most raucous back-and-forth mostsynod veterans have ever witnessed."[17] On 15 October, he apologized and said he had only hoped to focus discussion on more practical issues.[16]
In 2016, Pope Francis sent Turkson as his special envoy to pursue peace inSouth Sudan: to urge an end toviolence in the country, and to help establish dialogue and trust between the warring parties. Turkson traveled toJuba to support the archbishop and to meet with the country's leaders. He also carried with him a letter from Francis forPresidentSalva Kiir and one forVice PresidentRiek Machar who are historic enemies and represent different ethnic groups.[18]
On 31 August 2016, Pope Francis created theDicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, naming Turkson as its first prefect, effective 1 January 2017.[19]
Ahead of theWorld Meeting of Families 2018 inDublin, Turkson was announced ashomilist at the opening ceremony at theCathedral of the Assumption, Carlow.[20]
On 23 December 2021, Pope Francis ended Turkson's service as prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development at the conclusion of his five-year term, appointing CardinalMichael Czerny as his temporary replacement.[2]
On 4 April 2022, Pope Francis named him chancellor of thePontifical Academy of Sciences and thePontifical Academy of Social Sciences.[1]
Turkson speaks English,Fante, French, Italian, German, andHebrew, in addition to understandingLatin andGreek.[21]
Following the announcement on 11 February 2013 of the plannedresignation of Pope Benedict XVI, Turkson was identified by the media as a possible candidate for the papacy.[21][22][23][24][25][26]BookmakersPaddy Power andLadbrokes made Turkson the favourite to be elected pope,[27] with Paddy Power giving 2/1 odds.[28] Odds variously of 4/1,[29] 11/4 against (by Paddy Power), and 5/4 against (by Ladbrokes) were given.[30] Parties unknown placed fake election posters in Rome with the caption "At theconclave, vote Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson!"[31]
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In 2009, he reaffirmed the Catholic moral teaching oncontraception, in regard to statements made by Pope Benedict XVI thatcondoms were not a solution to Africa's AIDS crisis that were taken out of context by the media.[32] Turkson said that the quality of condoms in Africa is poor, their use would also engender false confidence. He saidfidelity and, if infected, refraining from sex were the key to fighting the epidemic. He also said that the money being spent on condoms should instead be spent on providinganti-retroviral drugs to those already infected. He has affirmed that in certain circumstances natural family planning can be used.[33][34]
In 2012, in response to a speech byUN Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon urging Church leaders to do more for human rights and in particularLGBT rights in Africa, Turkson acknowledged that some of the sanctions imposed on homosexuals in Africa were an "exaggeration" but pointed out that the stigmatization of homosexuality in Africa is traditional and "just as there's a sense of a call for rights, there's also a call to respect culture, of all kinds of people." Turkson called on the Secretary-General to recognize the "subtle distinction between morality and human rights," and not disrespect moral doctrine in the name of protecting human rights.[35]
Turkson has endorsedanti-sodomy laws, in particular the Ugandan legislation onsodomy,[36] though has also condemned legislation criminalizing homosexual identities.[37]
In February 2013, Turkson told an interviewer that he believes that thesexual abuse of children by Catholic priests, if found in Africa, would not likely be in the same proportion as it is found in Europe. He said that "African traditional systems ... have protected its population against this tendency" and that "in several cultures in Africa homosexuality or for that matter any affair between two sexes of the same kind are not countenanced".[38]
In response to theglobal economic crisis that hit in 2008, Turkson, together with bishopMario Toso, elaborated a proposal to reform the international financial system by creating a Global Public Authority and a Global Bank that consider the interests of all developing countries. The document of 40 pages was officially presented in October 2011 and criticises the current structure of theInternational Monetary Fund and other institutions.[14]
In a 2010 interview byL'Osservatore Romano, Turkson stated that "toxic values" such as "relativism" and "atheistic secularism" should be avoided. He also stated that bad political leadership and exploitation of differences between many Africans has led to a lack of peace and justice in Africa.[39]
In August 2015, Turkson spoke at apro-life conference of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference in Accra'sHoly Spirit Cathedral.[40] In 2017, he held that pro-life activism and the message on climate change "are not separable."[41]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)Turkson made headlines last week when it was revealed that he supported Uganda's draconian penalties for homoesexuality.
cherish her truly human values, referring to her as a healthy lung of humanity which must maintain its healthiness through the avoidance of toxic values of foreign cultures, such as relativism and atheistic secularism . … the lack of peace and the search for justice in parts of the continent have to do principally with politics (bad political leadership) and its exploitation of ethnic and religious differences to prop it up, the economics of keeping Africa as a "market" for manufacturing countries and the world's need for its mineral resources, and new versions of religious conquests and impositions.
Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, was one of several speakers at the conference, which was held in Accra's Holy Spirit Cathedral. Ekeocha urged participants to work towards ejecting international pro-choice agencies from Ghana, where they are promoting condom use and abortion in some hospitals, schools and villages and seeking to normalize homosexual relations.
The message on climate change coincides perfectly with any pro-life activism, or any belief in human life. The two are not separable.
| Catholic Church titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Archbishop of Cape Coast 6 October 1992 – 24 October 2009 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Cardinal-Priest ofSan Liborio 21 October 2003 – present | Incumbent |
| Preceded by | President of thePontifical Council for Justice and Peace 24 October 2009 – 1 January 2017 | Office abolished |
| New title | Prefect of theDicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development 1 January 2017 – 23 December 2021 | Succeeded by Michael Czerny ad interim |
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