Born in 1948 in Ghana, studied at St Anthony-on-Hudson Seminary in New York. Ordained in 1975, he studied at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, 1980 and 1987-92.
Appointed Archbishop of Cape Coast by Pope John Paul II and made Cardinal in 2003, he was President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference 1997-05, and Chancellor of the Catholic University College of Ghana since 2003.
He served as Relator during the II Synod of Bishops for Africa in October 2009. At the end of the Synod, Pope Benedict XVI named him President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.