New Ghanaian cardinal know for supporting, encouraging education

Published: 2006-03-07

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) -- Ghanaian Cardinal-designate Peter Poreku Dery is known for encouraging and supporting young people to pursue more education. "He inspired any young person who showed talent and commitment and often paid for their university and postgraduate studies," said Archbishop Charles G. Palmer-Buckle of Accra, Ghana. "I was one of his proteges," said Archbishop Palmer-Buckle, 55, noting that Cardinal-designate Dery "would go to universities to visit the people he was sponsoring, bringing letters and food from their families and taking an individual interest in each one." "He would listen to us, advise us, wipe away our tears and cheer our joys," the archbishop said in a March 3 telephone interview from the Ghanaian capital. His elevation to cardinal at age 87 is "seen as long overdue by all of us who know him," said Archbishop Palmer-Buckle, noting that "Ghana is celebrating." The retired archbishop of Tamale, Ghana, was one of 15 prelates named cardinals by Pope Benedict XVI Feb. 22. He will be elevated in a March 24 consistory at the Vatican.

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