Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of a prominent African cardinal who was a key adviser on climate change and social justice as part of a rare shake-up of an entire Vatican office.
The Vatican said on Thursday that Cardinal Peter Turkson was leaving the Vatican Dicastery for Integral Human Development. All other superiors had also offered their resignations.
The department was formed in 2016 to merge four offices that dealt with issues such as peace, justice, migration and charities, and was plagued by management problems and turf wars from the start, Vatican sources said.
Photo: AFP
The Vatican has not commented on the timing of Turkson’s departure or the claims of dysfunction in his department.
Turkson, seen by some as a candidate to become the first African pope in about 1,500 years, offered his resignation again last week, following an automatic procedural offer at the end of his term in August.
One source said that he had told some staff he was “fed up.”
Turkson, who is from Ghana, represented the Vatican at high-profile international venues such as the World Economic Forum at Davos.
His departure leaves the Vatican with no African heading a major department, following the retirement of Cardinal of Guinea Robert Sarah earlier this year.
A senior Vatican source said that the pope was expected to give Turkson another top Vatican job.
The department underwent an external review headed by Cardinal of Chicago Blase Cupich at the pope’s request earlier this year.
The shake-up follows two high-level departures from the department over the summer, one because of retirement, and another sudden and unexplained.
Turkson, 73, would be eligible until he turns 80 to enter a conclave of cardinals to elect the next pope after Francis dies or retires, according to Vatican rules.
The Catholic Church had several popes of north African origin early in its history, the last in the 5th century.
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