Catholic cardinal promotes homosexuality, says not offence
Catholic Cardinal Peter Turkson has said homosexuality is not a criminal offence, calling for public enlightenment on it.
The Ghanaian clergy said, “LGBT people may not be criminalised because they’ve committed no crime”.
He added, “It’s time to begin education, to help people understand what this reality, this phenomenon is. We need a lot of education to get people to… make a distinction between what is crime and what is not crime.”
Cardinal Turkson referred to one of one Ghana’s languages, called Akan, translating to mean “men who act like women and women who act like men”. He argued that this was an indication that homosexuality was not an imposition from outside.
“If culturally we had expressions… it just means that it’s not completely alien to the Ghanaian society,” said Turkson, who became the first Ghanaian to become cardinal in 2003 and, currently, the chancellor of the Pontifical Academies of Sciences.
His view comes as the Ghanaian parliament considers a bill imposing harsh penalties on LGBT people.
Cardinal Turkson’s view, however, contradicts that of the Roman Catholic bishops in Ghana, who consider homosexuality “despicable”.
Last month, Pope Francis suggested he would be open to having the Catholic Church bless same-sex couples.
He added, however, that the Church still considered same-sex relationships “objectively sinful” and would not recognise same-sex marriage.
