Following Pope Francis’s demise on Monday, April 22, 2025, a number of top cardinals of the Catholic Church have been named as potential successors. One of the names being mentioned as a leading candidate for the papal position is Ghana’s Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson. This is not the first time Cardinal Appiah Turkson’s name has been mentioned as a leading candidate for the office of the pontiff. His name came up during the past two conclaves to elect the next Pope. The Metropolitan Archbishop of Cape Coast, Most Rev Charles Gabriel Palmer-Buckle, has stated that Cardinal Appiah Turkson “is of the right age” and has “enough experience” to be the next leader of the Catholic Church. An Appiah Turkson papacy would mean a great deal not only for the people of Ghana, but also for the entire African and Black race. This is because none of the 266 popes of the church, from St Peter (the first) to Pope Francis, has been from Africa. About Cardinal Appiah Turkson: Cardinal Appiah is currently the Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences at the Vatican. He has held several key positions in the leadership of the church, including being the first Prefect of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development, former President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Archbishop Emeritus of the Cape Coast Archdiocese in Ghana, and the Treasurer of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM). He also served on several Vatican bodies, including the Methodist-Catholic Dialogue (since 1997), the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (since 2002), and the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Goods of the Church (since 2002). In Ghana, he is the Chancellor of the Catholic University College of Ghana. He is also a member of the University Council of the University of Ghana, Legon; the National Sustainable Development Council of the Ministry of Environment; the Board of Directors of the Central Regional Development Committee; and the Board of Trustees of the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem Educational Fund. After studying at St Teresa’s Minor Seminary at Amisano and St Peter’s Regional Seminary at Pedu, he was ordained as a priest in July 1975 by Archbishop John Kodwo Amissah, whom he succeeded. He did a licentiate at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome from 1976 to 1980, and then from 1987 to 1992, he studied for a doctorate degree at the same institute. In addition to English and his native Fante, he also speaks French, Italian, German, and Hebrew fluently, and has written knowledge of Latin and Greek. He was born on October 11, 1948, at Nsuta-Wassaw in the Western Region. Who can be a Pope: According to the doctrines of the Catholic Church, any Catholic man below the age of 80 years can be elected Pope at the conclave of the cardinals of the Church. However, throughout the history of the Church, only cardinals have been elected Popes. Currently, out of 252 cardinals, only 135 are eligible to participate in the election of the next Pope — i.e. cast ballots and be voted for in the upcoming conclave, which is expected to be in about 15 to 20 days. Out of the 135 eligible candidates, 53 are from Europe; 23 from Asia; 21 from Latin America; 18 from Africa; 16 from North America; and 4 from Oceania. Other leading candidates to be the next Pope: Aside from Cardinal Appiah Turkson, eight other cardinals have been mentioned as favourites to become the next Pope. They include: Cardinal Pietro Parolin of Italy, Cardinal Péter Erdő of Hungary, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines, and Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Italy. The remaining are Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke of the United States, Cardinal Willem Jacobus Eijk of the Netherlands, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Sri Lanka, Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller of Germany and Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea. Is Mahama also a traitor for meeting Akufo-Addo? Watch as Koku Anyidoho questions Ghanaians