Selection of new Pope and Cardinal Appiah Turkson

As the process to select a successor to Pope Benedict XVI begins in Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, many Ghanaians are hopeful that Cardinal Peter Appiah Turkson would be elected.

The one hundred and fifteen cardinals meeting in the conclave have taken the Oath of secrecy inside the Sistine Chapel in Rome.

The oath taken in Latin reads: “I call as my witness, Christ the Lord who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one who, before God, I think should be elected”.

The Cardinals will vote four times per day until a new Pope is chosen. As the cardinals begin the process to elect a new Pope, Ghana's Cardinal Peter Turkson is in the running for the leadership position.

Cardinal Turkson, currently President of the Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace was elevated to Cardinalate by Pope John Paul II, in 2003. He is widely regarded as a likely Pope.

The progress of the papal conclave is measured in black and white smoke. While black smoke means voting has been inconclusive, white smoke means a new Pope has been elected. As the whole world awaits the outcome of the election for a new Pontiff, most Ghanaians are clutching their hands firmly for the new Ghanaian Pope.

The election of a new Pope was necessitated by the resignation of the Pontiff Pope Benedict the sixteenth, who resigned on health grounds. The Papacy has since remained vacant, with the Cardinals holding the forth.