Cardinal Turkson assumes office on January 10

Accra, Dec. 17, GNA - Peter Cardinal Kodwo Appiah Turkson, the Archbishop of Cape Coast, assumes office as the President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in January 10, 2010 in Rome. Cardinal Turkson who announced the date in Accra on Wednesday pledged his continuous support for national and global peace.

Speaking at the first consultative engagement forum with political parties in Accra organised by the National Peace Council, which he chairs, Cardinal Turkson, commended political parties and democratic players in the country for their collaboration for national development.

The Cardinal Turkson, 61, succeeds Cardinal Renato Martino, who served as president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace since 2002. He has a five-year initial term of office. He was born on October 11, 1948 at Wassaw Nsuta. He was ordained a priest on July 20, 1975, appointed Archbishop of Cape Coast on October 6, 1992 Archbishop of Cape Coast on March 27 1993. He was made a Cardinal on October 21, 2003 and took part in the conclave that elected Pope Benedict VI following the death of Pope John Paul II.

Cardinal Turkson is considered one of the top Biblical scholars in Africa. He completed his theology studies at St. Anthony-on-Hudson Seminary in Rensselaer, New York, and earned a doctorate in Sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome.

The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace promotes justice and peace in the world, in the light of the Gospel and of the social teaching of the Catholic Church. It also seeks to deepen the social doctrine of the Catholic Church and attempts to make it widely known and applied, both by individuals and communities, especially as regards relations between workers and employers.

The Council as part of its mandate assembles and evaluates various types of information and results of research on justice and peace, the development of peoples and violations of human rights. It also fosters relations with international Catholic organizations and with other bodies, be they Catholic or not, that are sincerely committed to the promotion of the values of justice and peace in the world.