Black pope at 3 -1 odds

Thursday, February 21st, 2013

Bookmaker Paddy Power has odds of Turkson becoming the pope at 3-1 — a prediction that is not entirely out of the blue for the cardinal, who acknowledged the possibility of a black pope in a press conference in 2009.

“Why not?” Turkson said, arguing that when you agree to become a priest, you must be open to the idea of becoming a Pope. “All of that is part of the package.”

Turkson added that the time was especially ripe given the election of President Barack Obama.

However his odds might have lengthened as the Mail reports that on 19 February Turkson faced a firestorm of criticism after he laid the blame for clerical sex abuse at the feet of gay priests.

Turkson told American journalist that similar sex scandals would never convulse churches in Africa because the culture was inimical to homosexuality.

‘African traditional systems kind of protect or have protected its population against this tendency,’ he told Christiane Amanpour of CCN.

‘Because in several communities, in several cultures in Africa homosexuality or for that matter any affair between two sexes of the same kind, are not countenanced in our society,’ he continued.

‘So that cultural taboo, that tradition has been there,’ said Cardinal Turkson, 64. ‘It has served to keep it out.’

Turkson also made headlines in October 2012 for screening a YouTube video, called “Muslim Demographics in Europe, the invasion of faith snatchers,” at the Synod of bishops meeting in Rome.

The seven-minute clip featured several alarmist claims, including: “In just 39 years France will be an Islamic republic.”

In 2009, Turkson stood by Pope Benedict XVI’s views that condoms were not a viable answer to Africa’s AIDS crisis, highlighting their varying quality.

“We’re talking about a product of a factory, and there are different qualities,” he said at a press conference. “There are condoms that arrive in Ghana which in the heat will burst during sex. And when that is the case, then it gives a false sense of security which rather facilitates the spread of HIV/AIDS.”

Turkson, however, did not rule out the use of condoms in all circumstances. He argued that they could be helpful in the case of a married couple in which one person is infected.

According to Michael Kelly, editor of the Irish Catholic newspaper, Turkson is considered an excellent communicator and someone who is comfortable in any circumstance.

Head of the Vatican’s Department for Justice and Peace and to the fore of the Church’s participation in global politics, he has been sharply critical of capitalism and has even called for a “world authority” to be established to regulate market capitalism.

At the same time, he is considered theologically conservative while remaining open to dialogue.

Turkson was a star turn at the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin last year where he mingled easily with ordinary pilgrims and gave presentations lauded for their insight and teaching.

Sources