- Title: GHANA: Profile of Cardinal Peter Turkson
- Date: 1st March 2013
- Summary: NSUTA-WASSA, WESTERN REGION, GHANA (RECENT - FEBRUARY 19, 2013) (REUTERS) VIEW OVER VILLAGE WHERE CARDINAL PETER TURKSON COMES FROM STREET NEAR TURKSON'S FOMER HOME POSTER READING IN ENGLISH "THE BIRTH PLACE OF PETER K. APPIAH TURKSON" WITH IMAGE OF TURKSON OUTSIDE HOUSE WHERE HE USED TO LIVE CHILDREN OUTSIDE HOUSE OTHER HOUSES NEARBY, LAUNDRY HANGING OUTSIDE CORRIDOR INSIDE TURKSON'S FORMER HOME TURKSON'S FORMER BEDROOM FRIEND WHO USED TO LIVE IN THE HOUSE OPPOSITE, DUNHILL PAWOSEY, ENTERING HIS OLD HOME (SOUNDBITE) (English) FRIEND WHO USED TO LIVE OPPOSITE PETER TURKSON, DUNHILL PAWOSEY, SAYING: "Playing guitar on the veranda, all playing there. I used to play drums, he used to play the guitar - and singing too." DUNHILL PAWOSEY AND HEADMASTER FRANCIS HANSON-AYIDAN LOOKING AT TURKSON'S FATHER'S FUNERAL BOOKLET VARIOUS OF PHOTOGRAPH IN BOOKLET SHOWING PETER TURKSON WITH HIS PARENTS MORE OF PAWOSEY AND HANSON-AYIDAN LOOKING AT TURKSON'S FATHER'S FUNERAL BOOKLET PHOTOGRAPHS OF TURKSON'S PARENTS AND HIS SIBLINGS IN BOOKLET VARIOUS OF WORKING MINE NEAR NSUTA CATHOLIC BASIC SCHOOL VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF NSUTA CATHOLIC SCHOOL BUILDINGS VARIOUS OF CHILDREN AND TEACHER IN CLASSROOM ON THE SITE WHERE TURKSON WAS TAUGHT, CLASSROOM HAS SINCE BEEN REBUILT CROSS ON BUILDING (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEADMASTER FRANCIS HANSON-AYIDAN , SAYING: "It would be a great joy, because imagine someone who attended school here and hear that he has been raised to a high level of position. It would be a very great joy and the school would celebrate it, we are strongly praying for that." ELMINA, GHANA (RECENT - FEBRUARY 18, 2013) (REUTERS) ENTRANCE TO ST. TERESA'S SEMINARY VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF BUILDING WHERE TURKSON WAS TAUGHT, BUILDING IS NOW A DORMITORY PLAYING FIELD WITH BUNGALOWS IN BACKGROUND EXTERIOR OF HOUSE WHERE TURKSON STAYED WHILE HE WAS A STUDENT VICE DIRECTOR OF THE SEMINARY, FATHER MICHEAL ODARTEY-LAMPTEY, AND SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR OF THE SEMINARY, PETER AGOKO-ENCHILL, STANDING OUTSIDE (SOUNDBITE) (English) SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR OF THE SEMINARY, PETER AGOKO-ENCHILL, SAYING: "He was very sporty, always playing soccer, very sociable and then he liked music too. He was good at music, he was playing guitar." (SOUNDBITE) (English) VICE DIRECTOR OF THE SEMINARY, FATHER MICHEAL ODARTEY-LAMPTEY, SAYING: "Very inspiring and all of us as young priests, and seminary wanted to hear him often times that he preached." (Reporter asking: "What was it about him that was so exceptional?") "His humility. And his eloquence." EXTERIOR OF SEMINARY CHURCH VARIOUS OF BOYS INSIDE CHURCH, PRAYING AND RECEIVING HOLY COMMUNION TAKORADI, GHANA (RECENT - FEBRUARY 20, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF TURKSON SINGING WHILE OFFERING HOLY COMMUNION CONGREGATION SINGING VARIOUS OF TURKSON WALKING THROUGH CHURCH, SHAKING HANDS WITH MEMBERS OF CONGREGATION CAPE COAST, GHANA (TUESDAY FEBRUARY 12, 2013) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF ARCHBISHOP'S HOUSE SIGN READING IN ENGLISH "CARDINAL'S RESIDENCE", SIGN WAS PUT UP AFTER TURKSON WAS MADE A CARDINAL WINDOWS OF ROOMS WHERE TURKSON LIVES VIEW OVER ROOFTOPS VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF ST FRANCIS DE SALES CATHEDRAL IN CAPE COAST TAKORADI, GHANA (RECENT - FEBRUARY 20, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF TURKSON LEAVING CATHEDRAL IN TAKORADI
- Embargoed: 16th March 2013 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Ghana
- Country: Ghana
- Topics: Religion,Religion
- Reuters ID: LVA94IOCTESYJKVDKJLQD8YERSB8
- Story Text: With Pope Benedict XVI now officially in retirement, Catholic cardinals from around the world begin on Friday (March 1) the complex, cryptic and uncertain process of picking the next leader of the world's largest church.
Some details are still unclear, owing to Benedict's break with the tradition that papacies end with a pope's death, so these "princes of the Church" will first hold an informal session before traditional rounds of talks begin on Monday (March 4).
No front-runner stands out among the 115 cardinal electors - those aged under 80 - due to enter the Sistine Chapel for the conclave that picks the new pope, so discreetly sizing up potential candidates will be high on the cardinals' agenda.
Ghana's Peter Turkson has been tipped as Africa's frontrunner in a contest heavy with speculation that a Latin American or African could be elected as chief of the 1.2 billion-strong Catholic population.
Turkson grew up in Nsuta-Wassa, a small mining settlement in the Western Region of Ghana. He was one of ten children and lived in a two room wooden bungalow with his siblings and parents.
Today there is a picture of him outside his former home.
62 year-old Dunhill Pawosey used to live opposite to Peter Turkson and remembers growing up with him.
"Playing guitar, on the veranda, all playing there. I used to play drums, he used to play the guitar - and singing too."
The men are still friends, and Pawosey has kept a copy of Turkson's father's funeral programme, which contains pictures of the Turkson family.
Peter Turkson's mother was a Methodist, but his father, a carpenter, was Catholic and as a boy Peter Turkson attended the local Roman Catholic Primary School.
Even though many of its buildings were destroyed several years ago in a storm, the school knows the spot where Turkson was educated and a new classroom now stands there.
Headmaster Francis Hanson-Ayidan said the school was praying for Turkson to become the next Pope.
"It would be a great joy, because imagine someone who attended school here and hear that he has been raised to a high level of position. It would be a very great joy and the school would celebrate it, we are strongly praying for that."
After primary school, Turkson moved to a middle school, where within a couple of year's he'd passed his common entrance exam and looked set to go to secondary school.
But Turkson responded to a poster looking for students who wanted to be priests and at age 13 he chose a preparatory seminary rather than college.
After a year at pre-seminary, his journey to priesthood continued at St. Teresa's Minor Seminary in Elmina. The house he stayed in when he first arrived in 1962 is still standing, although no one lives there now, and the block he used to be taught in is now accommodation for some of the 200 boys who attend the school.
Years later, after studying philosophy and graduating with two masters in Divinity and Theology, Turkson returned to St. Teresa's teaching Geography and Religious Studies.
Peter Agoko-Enchill was a student at the time and is now the seminary's spiritual director. He remembers Turkson as a fun teacher.
"He was very sporty, always playing soccer, very sociable and then he liked music too. He was good at music, he was playing guitar," Agoko-Enchill said.
"Very inspiring and all of us as young priests, and seminary wanted to hear him often times that he preached," said Father Micheal Odertey-Lamptey, who was ordained by Turkson and is now the seminary's vice director.
Cardinal Turkson was ordained as a priest by the late Archbishop John Kojo Amissah in 1975 at the St. Frances De Sales Cathedral in Cape Coast.
In 1992, while still working on his doctorate degree, he was elected Archbishop of Cape Coast.
Then, at the age of 54, in 2003 he was named a Cardinal by Pope John Paul II. Ever since the Archbishop's house in Cape Coast has had a sign outside reading 'Cardinal's Residence'.
It was the Cardinal's home until he was called to Rome in 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI. He is now head of the Vatican justice and peace bureau. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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