Cardinal Peter Turkson: from a Wassa mining town to the Vatican’s top offices
He grew up in a mining town where his father worked as a carpenter. Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, born in Nsuta in Ghana’s Western Region in 1948, became Ghana’s first cardinal and one of the most senior Africans in the Vatican. In papal conclaves, his name has repeatedly appeared on lists of possible candidates for pope.
Early life and Cape Coast
Turkson was born on 11 October 1948 in Wassaw Nsuta. His father was Catholic and his mother had a Methodist background. He was one of ten children. He studied at seminaries in Ghana and in New York, and was ordained a priest in 1975. He later studied Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome and taught at St Peter’s Seminary in Cape Coast.
In 1992, Pope John Paul II appointed him Archbishop of Cape Coast. He served for nearly two decades and became a respected voice in Ghanaian public life.
Cardinal and Rome
In 2003, John Paul II made him a cardinal, the first from Ghana. In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. He worked on issues such as poverty, the environment and the global economy. In 2016, Pope Francis made him the first Prefect of the new Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, which brought together several Vatican offices dealing with justice, migration, health and charity. He served until 2021.
In 2022, Francis appointed him Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. Turkson was closely involved in presenting Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si’.
Ghana and scholarship
Before the conclaves of 2013 and 2025, commentators listed Turkson among possible African candidates for the papacy. He took part in the 2025 conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV. He remains connected to Ghana and has spoken on issues such as illegal mining, corruption and peace during elections. Turkson’s academic training was in Scripture. Before becoming a bishop, he taught Bible at St Peter’s Seminary, Pedu, and many priests in Ghana studied under him.
A carpenter’s son from a mining town reached the highest councils of the Catholic Church. Ghanaian Catholics still describe him first as the archbishop who came home to Cape Coast.
