LONDON, United Kingdom (LifeSiteNews) –– A leading Vatican cardinal from Ghana has condemned his home country’s anti-sodomy laws, stating that there is a need for “education” on the issue of homosexuality to “distinguish between what is a crime and what is not a crime.”
Cardinal Peter Turkson made his comments in a recent interview with the BBC, which aired on November 27.
Described by the BBC as a “consistent conservative” on the field of homosexuality, Turkson laughed off the description, looking to move away from “those expressions conservative, progressive.”
“My position has simply been this: LGBT people may not be criminalized because they’ve committed no crime, but neither should this position also become something to be imposed on cultures which are not yet ready to accept stuff like that,” said Turkson, who led the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development as the inaugural prefect from 2017 to 2021.
This comment came in light of questions regarding the anti-sodomy laws which have been passed both in Turkson’s native Ghana along with in Uganda. Ugandan lawmakers especially have expressed growing concerns over the recruitment of children into the LGBT lifestyle, but have faced backlash from the international community since the passage of the bill.
READ: Ugandan parliament passes ‘Anti-Homosexuality Bill,’ infuriating the pro-LGBT West
Ghana’s bishops, meanwhile, have thanked politicians for advancing laws to combat LGBT ideology in the country.
But Turkson – Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences – declared himself in opposition to such laws. “My position is, in that sense, contrary to what has been passed. My sense is that to criminalize anybody we need to identify the crime,” he stated.
READ: Pope Francis appoints environmentalist cardinal as chancellor of Pontifical Academy of Sciences
Turkson stated that he has always argued how “LGBT cases are not to be criminalized,” adding that “traditionally the Ghanaian culture has known of people with such tendencies.”
Politicians and family activists opposing the introduction of LGBT lifestyles into the African nations have argued that such ideology would undermine the culture. But Turkson stated that homosexuality was a cultural practice already:
There is an expression: ‘men who act like women and women who act like men.’ This means that this phenomenon has been known, was known in culture and in the community and all of that. But nobody went on to make any policy out of that.
He attributed the African anti-sodomy laws to a local pushback against Western intervention, arguing that “what caused all of this was [sic] attempts to link some foreign donations and grants to certain positions which have been imposed in the name of freedom, in the name of respect for rights and stuff like that.”
READ: Cardinal Turkson sees China as model for environmentalism. Seriously?
When questioned by the interviewer on why African prelates were not condemning the anti-sodomy laws, Turkson replied “what the move should be is a lot of education” about homosexuality, stating that “cultural attitudes about this are very deeply rooted and all that.”
“We need a lot of education to get people to make a distinction between what is a crime and what is not a crime, what is a personal habit and not a personal habit,” he added, further distancing himself from the anti-sodomy laws and from the stance of numerous diocesan bishops in Africa.
READ: Cardinal who said Biden should receive Communion supports ‘Great Reset’ agenda
Turkson expressed the possibility that homosexuality would become more widely accepted in society, stating how “something that traditionally may be referred to as a taboo and all of that, it takes time…”
It’s time to begin education, to help people understand what this phenomenon is. If culturally we have expressions and terms for this, it just means that it’s not completely alien to Ghanaian society. Not being completely alien to Ghanaian society now that is coming out..what has to be the response. I think this drastic form, that it’s taken in Ghana and probably worse still in Uganda, is been the perception that the West was imposing this with some donations and grants and all of this, it’s kind of politicized in such a way that the reaction to it has also been equally political in character. But I think that all of this, from my point of view…is to be able to understand more deeply this phenomenon.
At the start of the year, Pope Francis personally condemned anti-sodomy laws. Speaking to the Associated Press, who summarized his words on occasions during the published interview, Francis called on bishop to “undergo a process of change to recognize the dignity of everyone.”
“These bishops have to have a process of conversion,” Francis declared about the prelates supporting anti-sodomy laws, calling for “tenderness, please, as God has for each one of us.”
READ: Pope Francis says Church must fight anti-sodomy laws and bishops who support them need conversion
Turkson himself is seen as a prominent figure by secular media, who posited him as a likely fore-runner in the 2013 conclave, and continue to suggest he could ascend to the papal throne after Pope Francis.
Certain of his talking points are indeed more in line with mainstream ideals than with the traditional teachings of the Church. He has defended offering Holy Communion to pro-abortion Joe Biden and has served as the Vatican’s key liaison in support of the globalist Great Reset agenda.
Turkson has joined at least five annual summits of the World Economic Forum (WEF) during Francis’ pontificate, including in 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2020, often delivering remarks from the pope or hosting the Vatican’s own WEF “roundtable.”
Following the 2022 edition of the globalist meeting, Turkson explained the Vatican’s involvement with the WEF, saying, “we need to be open” to the Reset.
The 75-year old cardinal’s role in the Vatican appears to continue much in line with the papal talking points.