Cardinal Peter Turkson was a soccer- loving 11-year-old when he declared to a playmate after a day running through forest paths near his Ghanaian home village that he would dedicate his life to the Catholic Church.
“He said with a solemn and serious tone after a period of silence, ‘Pawusey, I would like to be a priest,’” Daniel Pawusey, a 61-year-old retired mechanic, said in an interview in the Western village of Nsuta Wassaw. “I didn’t take him seriously. I didn’t quite understand what was at stake.”
Turkson’s journey has taken him from his rural hometown in the West African nation’s mining heartland to the Vatican and now to possibly becoming the world’s first black pope. The 64- year-old is the 2-to-1 favorite to replace Pope Benedict XVI as head of the Catholic Church, according to results today from betting company Paddy Power Plc (PAP) in Dublin. He’s placed third by London-based William Hill Plc. (WMH)
More than 200 cardinals began meeting in the Vatican this week to discuss the state of the church and decide on a date to begin the conclave and elect a new pope. Benedict’s successor is expected to be in place by Easter, on March 31, according to Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi.
Turkson’s advantage stems in part from his insider role. He was named a cardinal in 2003, the first Ghanaian and the youngest African, by Pope John Paul II. Turkson left his position as Archbishop of Cape Coast and became president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in 2009.
Read more from source:bloomberg
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