By Melanie Nathan, May 07, 2025
Today began the Conclave to elect the successor Pope to Pope Francis in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican: Could an African Pope Change the landscape for Africa’s LGBTQI+ community from the cruel criminalization of homosexuality and the vicious violence it serves to license to tolerance? Perhaps if an African became Pope, it could.
Pope Francis deserves a legacy that can be built upon, which reflects who he was and what he brought to the Catholic Church, lest we lose sight of the massive impact of a Pope when it comes to global influence for all, whether Catholic or not.
A possible contender for the Papacy is Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson. Whereas African Catholic clergy have a tendency, in general, to join the chorus of Christians screaming for heightened anti-homosexuality laws on the Continent, Cardinal Turkson has found his way to tease a human rights perspective.
Although he is known to have said about Africans and homosexuality that “African traditional systems … have protected its population against this tendency” and that “in several cultures in Africa homosexuality or for that matter any affair between two sexes of the same kind are not countenanced“, he also criticized Uganda’s KILL THE GAYS BILL back in 2014.
Turkson made those comments at a conference “The Church and Human Rights” in Slovakia when he remarked to the media that “homosexuals are not criminals” and should not be imprisoned for their sexual identity, according to The Advocate . [1] The cardinal’s critique was focused on trying to ensure the West did not stop aid to Uganda. More than $115 million in funding was pulled after the anti-gay law was passed. However that law was invalidated later that same year, based on a technicality, not on the merits, and then reintroduced, legislated and upheld by Uganda’s highest court almost ten years later in 2023.
In 2023 Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, after signing that law, called on all African leaders to “save the world from homosexuality.” His genocidal flare ignited Burkina Faso, Kenya, Ghana, and others to follow suit. It seems that several of the already 30 plus criminalizing countries are contemplating harsher laws, that include punishing people for merely identifying as LGBTQIA, far more robust than the existing anti-sodomy laws.
In 2024, influenced by Uganda’s lead for harshly punitive anti-LGBT laws, Ghana’s Parliament legislated unanimously in favor of similar law, also influenced by the same U.S. Evangelicals who promoted the ugly law in Uganda. Ghana’s law, known as the Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill[2] was never attested to by former President Akufo-Addo of Ghana, and hence did not become law by the end of his presidential term. That law was reintroduced into Ghana early this year (2025), with an election promise by newly elected John Mahama, that he would attest to a new Ghanaian anti-LGBT law immediately upon passage. We wait for Parliament to further its trajectory. It seems to have stalled.
If we were to reflect on the possibility of a POPE PETER TURKSON it would be hard to imagine the new Pope’s Archdiocese going ahead and actually legislating the harshest imaginable anti-gay law concurrently with his Papal installation. This could stop Ghana in its tracks. In fact this could stop Africa in its tracks!
Responses from Catholics to anti-LGBTQ human rights abuses have been a mixed bag of both support for and opposition to punitive laws. The Vatican made its opposition to anti-LGBTQ criminalization known as early as 2009. Yet, to this day, some bishops have voiced their support for discriminatory laws.
Pope Francis took tolerance further when in January 2023, Pope Francis said that “being homosexual isn’t a crime” and called laws that criminalize homosexuality “unjust” in an exclusive interview with the AP. He reiterated, however, that the Catholic Church holds that homosexual activity is sinful.
In 25 September 2023, in a responsum to conservative cardinals before the 16th World Synod of Bishops, Francis signaled the Church’s openness to blessings without sacrament for same-sex couples as long as they did not misrepresent the Catholic view of marriage as between one man and one woman.
On 18 December 2023, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith published Fiducia supplicans, a declaration allowing Catholic priests to bless people who are not considered to be married by the Church, including same-sex couples. While the declaration was welcomed by many Catholics, it also sparked considerable controversy and criticism, especially from the African Bishops, with several bishops’ conferences barring the blessings in their jurisdictions or asking priests to refrain from them.
Cardinal Peter Turkson, a Ghanaian Catholic leader, has consistently advocated against the criminalization of homosexuality and the persecution of LGBTQ+ individuals. He emphasizes that being homosexual is not a crime and that individuals should not be penalized for their identity[3] .
In the context of Ghana’s legislative discussions, Turkson has expressed concern over proposed bills that would impose severe penalties on LGBTQ+ people and their advocates. He argues that such measures are unjust, as they punish individuals for their identity rather than actions that harm others .[4]
Culturally, Turkson points out that expressions acknowledging same-sex relationships exist within Ghanaian languages, suggesting that homosexuality is not entirely foreign to the society. He believes that education is key to fostering understanding and distinguishing between crime and identity.
While Turkson opposes criminalization, he maintains that the Catholic Church views homosexual acts as sinful, aligning with traditional Church teachings. However, he advocates for the dignity and human rights of LGBTQ+ individuals, urging respect and compassion .
Cardinal Turkson’s seems to stand on the side of compassion and human dignity, opposing the criminalization of LGBTQ+ identities while upholding Church teachings on sexual morality.
Imagine the possibility that the entire trajectory of Africa’s LGBTQI+ community, could change from its current foreboding path of homosexual hell with just one puff of white smoke.
By Melanie Nathan,
nathan@africanHRC.org
African Human Rights Coalition
Country Conditions Expert for LGBTQI+ asylum seekers from Ghana and 19 other African Countries.
[1] https://www.advocate.com/politics/religion/2014/03/04/catholic-cardinal-homosexuals-are-not-criminals
[2] https://cdn.modernghana.com/files/722202192224-0h830n4ayt-lgbt-bill.pdf
[3] https://www.newwaysministry.org/resources/catholic-responses-criminalization/?
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