Turkson attends Mandela memorial

Pope Francis sent Ghana’s Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, to be his personal representative at Tuesday’s memorial service for South Africa’s first democratically elected leader.

In a telegram last week to the country’s current president, Jacob Zuma, the Pope paid tribute to Mandela’s “steadfast commitment” to “promoting human dignity”. According to Jesuit sources, when Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island he attended Mass and received Communion.

Bishop Ma Daqin of Shanghai, under house arrest in China since announcing his resignation from the government-backed Catholic Patriotic Association in July 2012, has quoted Mandela’s words of freedom and hope in a recent internet message.

(See Kevin Dowling and A.E. Orobator, p. 6)