Ames Church Has Ties to Possible Pope Candidate Peter Turkson

The “Who will be the next pope?” buzz going round the Catholic world has generated a considerable amount of excitement in Ames and Gilbert where Rev. Richmond Dzekoe serves.

Dzekoe was ordained by Peter Turkson, a Ghanaian Cardinal who is considered to be one of the leading candidates for the next Pope. And if Turkson is selected, it's very possible that Dzekoe, an ISU Phd student, could be called to work with Turkson in Rome, said The Rev. John Seda of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church and Student Center.

“I now have an outside chance at having coffee with the Pope someday,” Seda said.

In fact Seda has received emails asking if he would run, a joke of course.

Pope Benedict shocked the Catholic world Monday when he announced that he would resign the position due to his advanced age and poor health. But that shock has turned to excitement over who might be next.

“There is a real possibility that we will have a non-European, non first-world Pope,” Seda said.

An election will take place in Mid-March. Turkson is thought to be a front runner. Other non-European possibilities include: Cardinal Francis Arinze, of Nigeria, Leonardo Sandri, of Argentina, Oscar Maradiaga, of Honduras, and Odilo Scherer and Joao Braz de Aviz, of Brazil, according to ABCNews.com.

Americans are just a sliver of the Catholic Church, said Seda, adding that the faith is booming in third world nations such as Latin America, Africa and Asia and cardinals elected recently have reflected that. Turkson, 64, is head of the Vatican justice and peace bureau.

“For the first time in centuries we could have a non-European pope and I think the church is ready for that,” Seda said.

A Third World Pope such as Turkson would bring the lens of poverty to the Vatican. The questions Americans have are so different from what Religious leaders in third world nations ponder, Seda said.

“They focus on do they have food to eat, It's a whole different situation,” he said.

But a Pope from a different world wouldn't necessarily mean a revolution within the church where change is measured by centuries not weeks.

No one expects that the next Pope would bring about social changes such as the acceptance of homosexuality or ordaining female priests.

“There won't be any changes in basic teachings,” Seda said.

It's the same ice cream in a different flavor. Having the public face of Catholicism be a non-European expands our imagination, Seda said.

Seda said he is Catholic not only because of his connection to Rome, but also because of his connection to a sister parish in Santa Rosa de Copàn in Honduras.

Churches in third world nations, where people don't have the luxury of choosing a secular life, have a profound sense of God in life and Seda said he recommends visiting parishes there because it opens one's eyes to a whole different way of being Christian.

Seda said he met a priest of El Salvador who saw things in scripture and tradition that he would have never realized. That's because the El Salvador priest was looking through the eyes of the poor.

“I would have never thought of it as a middle class American male,” Seda said.

While TUrkson has been mentioned, a recent Reuters report said an African Pope “would be quite some miracle.”

And other recent media reports have discussed Turkson's conservative views on same-sex relationships and his belief that the use of condoms will not stop the spread of HIV.

Matthias Kobena Nketsiah, archbishop of Cape Coast told Reuters that he would like to see Turkson in the role but … “I have to have my feet on the ground. It will be quite some miracle given the perception of an African of the Third World,"

Seda said ”the Holy Spirit can surprise us.”

“I really believe the Holy Spirit is behind all of this and whomever is elected, is who the Holy Spirit wants to be elected,” Seda said adding that in the end it doesn't matter who becomes Pope.

There are a lot of disagreements within the church.

“But what binds us together as Catholics, (is) We all love the Pope,” Seda said.

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