Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson (born 11 October 1948) is a Ghanaian prelate and cardinal of the Catholic Church who has served as chancellor of the Pontifical Academies of Sciences since 2022.

From 1987 to 1992, he pursued doctoral studies in Sacred Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute but his work on his thesis was interrupted by his appointment as archbishop of Cape Coast.

[citation needed] John Paul II created Turkson Cardinal-Priest of San Liborio in his final consistory of 21 October 2003.

[citation needed] On 24 October 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Turkson president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

In the spring of 2011, Pope Benedict XVI sent Cardinal Turkson as a mediator to contribute to a diplomatic, non-military solution to the civil conflict in Ivory Coast, where Laurent Gbagbo had refused, in spite of international condemnation and local protests and resistance, to step aside and hand over power to Alassane Ouattara, the certified winner of the presidential election.

[11] In October 2011, Turkson called for the establishment of a "global public authority" and a "central world bank" to rule over financial institutions that have become outdated and often ineffective in dealing fairly with crises.

[12] It said that "The economic and financial crisis which the world is going through calls everyone, individuals and peoples, to examine in depth the principles and the cultural and moral values at the basis of social coexistence".

[16] In 2016, Pope Francis sent Turkson as his special envoy to pursue peace in South Sudan: to urge an end to violence in the country, and to help establish dialogue and trust between the warring parties.

[18] On 31 August 2016, Pope Francis created the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, naming Turkson as its first prefect, effective 1 January 2017.

[20] On 23 December 2021, Pope Francis ended Turkson's service as prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development at the conclusion of his five-year term, appointing Cardinal Michael Czerny as his temporary replacement.

[30] Parties unknown placed fake election posters in Rome with the caption "At the conclave, vote Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson!

"[31] In 2009, he reaffirmed the Catholic moral teaching on contraception, in regard to statements made by Pope Benedict XVI that condoms were not a solution to Africa's AIDS crisis that were taken out of context by the media.

He said 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".