Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, who will turn 80 on September 8 and has held both posts since 1998.

Vatican City (08/04/2022 15:16, Gaudium Press) The Holy See Press Office announced on Monday 4th April, the appointment of Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, 73, as the new chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.

With the appointment, the current prefect emeritus of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development will succeed Argentinean Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, who will turn 80 on September 8 and has held both posts since 1998.

Brief biography of Cardinal Turkson

Ordained a priest in the Archdiocese of Cape Coast on 20 July 1975 at St Francis de Sales Cathedral, Turkson specialised in Sacred Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome from 1976-1980 for his Masters Degree, and from 1987-1992 for his doctorate.

On 6 October 1992 he was appointed Metropolitan Archbishop of Cape Coast by John Paul II, and was ordained bishop on 27 March 1993. He was President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference from 1997 to 2004, and after holding various offices, on 24 October 2009, at the conclusion of the Second Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for Africa, for which he was General Rapporteur, Benedict XVI appointed him President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

On 24 September 2013 Pope Francis confirmed him at the head of the Dicastery, which subsequently became the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development, of which Cardinal Turkson is prefect emeritus since 1 January 2022. In addition, he is the first native cardinal of the Republic of Ghana. (EPC)