Could the next pope be Ghanaian? Hopes rise in country as Conclave vote nears
On almost every street corner in Ghana's capital, Accra, is a proclamation of faith.
'To God be the Glory' is one I am currently looking at from my hotel room. In giant font, it covers 15 floors of a modern business block.
Much against Western trends, there is a renewed appetite for religion here; it is capturing the hearts and minds of youth, and the number of faithful is on the rise. According to the Vatican, Africa now has the fastest-growing Roman Catholic population.
Yet never in the modern age has there been an African Pope.
Could that be about to change?
Cardinal Turkson will join next week's Conclave at the Vatican as a Cardinal. Given the secrecy around this centuries-old ritual, whether he comes out as a pope is impossible to predict.
But there is growing excitement in one corner of West Africa that Cardinal Turkson – born and raised in a shanty town, the son of a carpenter and vegetable seller – could be the next leader of the Catholic church.
Described as a fun, mischievous little boy, he cemented his faith during his years at a seminary in the town of Cape Coast.
The town was the departure point for enslaved Africans – their last sight of Africa before leaving for the Americas. It is now a bustling fishing town and a place where many remember their former student, turned scholar, Bishop and then Archbishop.
'He brought this place to life," Father Robert Snyper told ITV News. He was taught by Cardinal Turkson at St Peter's Seminary.
'He taught us so well," he added.
Fr Snyper described a deeply intelligent man, devoted to prayer and to his faith. I asked him what he thought Cardinal Turkson valued most about his ministry 'His teaching," he replied. "Whether as a lecturer, or a bishop or a cardinal. It was always his teaching.'
I ask him where a Pope Turkson would want to take the church: 'I think he would want to carry on the work of Pope Francis. He would make it a church for the marginalised and a church for the poor.'
There are currently 262 young men training to be priests here. They live humble lives; days are spent in deep theological study, but there is a buzz here too. The next pope could have walked these corridors, sat at their desks.
'A black pope, it's huge,' Rev Michael Owusu-Amponsah said.
He is in his final year at the seminary.
'He could have sat right here. It is historic. It will make Ghana proud, and it will make this institution very, very proud.'
That pride spreads further, into the town of Cape Coast and well beyond.
'I think the next pope could be from Ghana!' a lady selling fish told me. I asked her how she feels about that. 'It makes me happy," she replied.
There is also a feeling that having Cardinal Turkson in the Papal office would put Ghana on the map. And it could change outdated stereotypes about Africa as a whole.
We meet Ekow Simpson, a YouTuber filming himself by the harbour in Cape Coast. He has little interest in the church but recognises this is a huge opportunity for Ghana.
"The pope, I know everybody was looking up to him in terms of Christian life... but if Pope Turkson become the next pope, I'm even calling him pope already, then it means that I would want him to do something that will put Ghana on the next level," he told ITV News.
"Change the status of Ghana economically, culturally, traditionally, and even in networking with people outside Ghana.
"To change the views of Ghana, because I know outside - not Ghana alone - in Africa, the story is always different.
"So if we have an African being a pope to the world, then I believe this is an opportunity for him to tell a different story, change the narrative about Africa to the world."This is a critical time for the Catholic church. In many ways, Cardinal Turkson would be seen as progressive.
He is likely to continue along the path set by Pope Francis, championing the disadvantaged, the isolated and the marginalised.
But overwhelmingly, the faithful in Ghana are conservative thinkers. Most cannot accept, for example, same sex relationships.
And that is something that remains difficult for practising Catholics here to be challenged on.
I asked Fr Snyper: 'Pope Francis held some perhaps more liberal views on things like sexuality. Do you think that is something Cardinal Turkson would continue?'
He then said: 'I don't know his personal views, but the Church is actually for the poor. The Church is actually for the marginalised. The church is actually for people that nobody wants to talk to. And this is what he tries to bring to consciousness."Does that include homosexuals? I then asked.
He replied: "Well, I think Pope Francis and then also Cardinal Turkson will dwell on this biblical episode in which Jesus asked the people to throw stones at a woman who was caught in adultery."
I then interjected: "And that for you is symbolic?"
"Nobody was able to throw the stone," he answered.I ask him about Pope Francis' now-famous comment: 'Who am I to judge' when asked about homosexuality.
Does he think Cardinal Turkson will share the view of Pope Francis when he now famously expressed, 'Who am I to judge?'
'I think he will continue from that line, yes.'
And I got the sense that that is as far as any practising Catholic priest here would ever go.
Cardinal Turkson will join the Conclave next Wednesday, May 7. Then the wait for the white smoke begins.
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