VATICAN CITY: Some people think the second pope’s origin is in Ghana, where Cardinal Peter Turkson is regarded as one of the Church’s most powerful people from Africa, where Christianity is rapidly expanding.
The 76-year-old, who was born into a modest household of 10 children, is the first priest from the west African nation to be awarded a purple hat after John Paul II made him saint in 2003.
Turkson is now the president of two pontifical universities, the social sciences and the sciences.
Before the cardinal’s surprise resignation in 2013, the original pope had been viewed as the country’s front-runner for the papal title, which sparked countless fanciful stories about the first black pope.
In a 2010 discussion, Turkson remarked,” I wouldn’t want to be that second black pope.”
” I believe he’ll have a hard day,” he said.
The possibility of Turkson becoming pope reflects a shift in Church populations: from Europe, where participation is declining, to Africa, where Christianity is growing the fastest.
Turkson was the fifth of ten kids to a Methodist family who sold veggies and a Catholic dad who worked as a carpenter in the mining town of Nsuta-Wassa.
Before moving to Rome and New York, he was ordained in 1975.
The then-pope John Paul II appointed Turkson the Archbishop of Cape Coast, a bishop of about 300, 000 Christians who expanded under his leadership in 1992.
He was elevated to saint status in 2003 by the pope.
Witchcraft and hunger
In Ghana, Turkson mediated a peace government in 2008 following flimsy votes that threatened to turn into violence.
Benedict XVI selected him a year later for a significant role in a particular legislature for Africa, which would cover issues like reconciliation, hardship, AIDS, the brain drain, and witchcraft.
In 2009, Benedict appointed Turkson to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, a body with a mandate involving cultural fairness and human rights.
Pope Francis appointed Turkson to lead a previously established section, the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, which merged the justice and peace government with three others as part of a reformation of the Roman Curia, the Holy See’s state.
Turkson, who speaks six language, visited the World Economic Forum in Davos several times to persuade company officials about the dangers of trickle-down economy while shepherding the economic and social problems that Francis considered important, including the atmosphere.
He headed a work force to examine the economic and social impact of the Covid-19 crisis and was appointed catholic special envoy to South Sudan in 2016.
No Africans are now a leading position in the Vatican, but Turkson resigned in a 2021 reshuffle and was replaced as director of the dicastery in a report from an external review and rumored inner conflict.
vivacious meditation
Turkson has criticized Uganda’s anti-gay laws, but he still supports Catholic physical ethics and denies that homosexuality is a problem with human rights.
He has argued that condoms, which have one partner who is HIV positive, are important for married couples in Africa, and that more money should be used to buy anti-retroviral medications for those who are already infected.
After a well-known blundered in which he showed a scare-mongering YouTube videos about the rising price of Muslims in the world during a church of priests, Turkson had to apologize in 2012.
Regarding Africans ‘ opinions of Catholicism, Turkson argued that the Evangelical Movement had done a better job of converting because the Church had become too formulaic, while Evangelism appealed to the brain with “vigorous music, exciting prayer.”
In 2012, Turkson said,” Maybe, we Africans make fun of how Europeans and Americans are for devoted activities fans.”
They may yell, cry, and sing their hearts out at a football or soccer game, but also singing a hymn in church seems like such a sacred exercise.
