Cardinal Peter Appiah Turkson

His Eminence Appiah Turkson

His Eminence Peter Turkson was born on the 11th October 1948. He comes from Wasaw Nsuta, Western region, Ghana. He is the President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. He was Appointed on 24 October 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI. He also hold Other posts as Cardinal-Priest of San Liborio. He was Ordained on 20 July 1975 by John Kodwo Amissah. He was Consecrated on 27 March 1993 by Dominic Kodwo Andoh. He was made a Cardinal on 21 October 2003 by Pope John Paul II. He was Previously the Archbishop of Cape Coast (1992–2009).

 He is the fourth child among 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. He studied at St. Teresa's Seminary in the village of Amisano and Pedu before attending St. Anthony-on-Hudson Seminary in Rensselaer, New York. He graduated as a Master of Theology. Turkson was a professor at St Teresa's Minor Seminary from 1975 to 1976. He entered the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, earning a licentiate in Sacred Scripture in 1980. He returned to St Teresa's for a year, 1980–81, and became vice-rector at St Peter's Seminary in 1981. From 1987 to 1992, he did doctoral studies in Sacred Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute but was unable to complete his thesis due to his appointment as archbishop of Cape Coast. He served as President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops' Conference from 1997 to 2005, and as Chancellor of the Catholic University College of Ghana since 2003.

Turkson is the first Ghanaian cardinal and was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the papal conclave of 2005 which elected Pope Benedict XVI. He was described as "one of Africa's most energetic church leaders" by The Tablet, a Roman Catholic magazine published in London.

Within the Roman Curia, Turkson is also a member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church and, since 4 March 2010, the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses. On 12 June 2012, Cardinal Turkson was appointed a member of the Congregation for Catholic Education. On 16 October 2010, Pope Benedict appointed him as a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He resides in Rome, Italy.

Cardinal Turkson delivered the plenary address of the 2011 Catholic Social Ministry Gathering. The gathering, in Washington D.C. on the theme of “Protecting Human Life and Dignity: Promoting a Just Economy,” was sponsored by 19 Catholic organizations, including the U.S. Catholic bishops.

In a recent interview with CNA, Turkson said he has learned from past experience that the Church’s justice and peace terminology often needs clarification for an American Catholic audience. Key terms used by the Vatican — such as “social justice” and “gift” — are not always understood the way the Vatican intends, he said. "We found out that some of the vocabulary which is just taken for granted and used freely may not always have the same sense or may have had some nuances which sometimes are missed because of the way the terms are used in the American political context,” Cardinal Turkson said in an interview on 12 January at the council’s offices in Rome.

On 30 March 2011, Pope Benedict XVI announced at his weekly general audience that he was sending Cardinal Turkson as a Vatican mediator to contribute to a possible diplomatic, non-military solution to the potentially explosive civil conflict in Ivory Coast, which could turn into an even bloodier civil war if not contained.

In October 2011, Cardinal 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. The document, Towards Reforming the International Financial and Monetary Systems in the Context of a Global Public Authority was very specific, calling for taxation measures on financial transactions. It notes 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,” he said. The document condemned what it called "the idolatry of the market" as well as a “neo-liberal thinking” that it said 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 said, adding that world economics needed an "ethic of solidarity" among rich and poor nations.

He is An accomplished polyglot. He is able to speak English, Fante, French, Italian, German, and Hebrew, in addition to understanding Latin and Greek.
He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2013 papal conclave that selected Pope Francis.

After the announcement on 11 February 2013 of the impending resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, two bookmakers, Paddy Power and Ladbrokes, made Turkson the favourite to be elected as the new pope, with Paddy Power giving 2/1 odds. Turkson was also mentioned in regards to St. Malachy's apocalyptic list Prophecy of the Popes.

Cardinal Turkson has said that "if God would wish to see a black man also as pope, thanks be to God". The Catholic Church chronicler Rocco Palmo called Turkson the lone Scripture scholar in the Pope's "Senate" and believes that his status as a potential "papabile" has been elevated due to his appointment as spokesman for Second Synod for Africa in 2009. With the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI in 2013, Turkson was seen as a papabile(potential successor) in the papal conclave, though he ultimately lost to Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

In 2009, he reaffirmed the Catholic social teaching on contraception. He said that he believes the quality of condoms in Africa are poor, their use could engender false confidence. He said abstinence, fidelity, and refraining from sex if infected were the key to fighting the epidemic. He also believes that the money being spent on condoms would be better spent providing anti-retro viral drugs to those already infected.

In response to the global economic crisis started in 2008, Cardinal Turkson, together with bishop Mario Toso, elaborated a proposal to reform the international financial system by creating a Global Public Authority and a Global Bank that consider the interest of all developing countries. The document of 40 pages was officially presented in October 2011 and criticises the current structure of International Monetary Fund and other institutions.

Pictures Of His Eminence Appiah Turkson