Obama Challenged by American Cardinal Tipped to Become Next Pope

By Andrea Tornielli
Vatican Insider
February 25, 2012

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/homepage/world-news/detail/articolo/dolan-stati-uniti-united-estates-estados-unidos-12978/

The "American Pope, "Timothy Dolan

The Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan, was the real "revelation" at the last consistory

After his arrival in the Big Apple and his surprising election as President of the U.S. bishops, newspapers and TV have begun to call him "the American Pope". Now that the Cardinals have heard him talk of evangelization during the summit that preceded the consistory, Timothy Michael Dolan would have a good chance of becoming the next Pope, if only he had not been born in the U.S.: Americans, they say, cannot be candidates because their country is already a superpower in the world, although certain past geopolitical analyses are no longer that obvious.

A native of St. Louis, Missouri and 62 years old, he has lived in Rome for seven years, directing the North American College. Archbishop of Milwaukee from 2002 to 2009, he was transferred to New York three years ago, where as soon as he arrived he said, "My primary goal is one, namely to meet people and people". With his entry into the most important U.S. Episcopal seat, there are those who believed it was the end of an era in which the Church was adamant about defending principles: Dolan is not intransigent and his positions are not entirely comparable to the more conservative members of the American episcopate. Yet the "American Pope", firm over the doctrine, but open on social issues and comfortable with what is modern, at first he defended Benedict XVI like a lion during the paedophilia scandal, harshly attacking the "New York Times". And now he does not fail to raise his voice against the Obama administration's decision to make it compulsory in 2013 for churches and religious associations to include reimbursement for contraception and abortion in the health insurance coverage for their employees: "The President is telling us that we have one year to figure out how to violate our consciences ... his is nothing but a reckless decision," said Dolan.

On the day of reflection that preceded the consistory in Rome, the newly elected cardinal impressed and surprised his fellow cardinals with his approach: "The new evangelization is accomplished with a smile, not with the frowning face" he said, politely disputing the idea that was suggested to consider New York the "capital of the secular culture". He showed that he did not see the world as an abyss of perdition, but as a field to harvest, speaking of "an undeniable openness to transcendence" 'also found in places that "are usually classified as "materialistic" - such as mass media, the world of entertainment, finance, politics and art."

He invited theologians to "try to speak of faith like a child" because "like a child we need to speak of the eternal truth, beauty and simplicity of Jesus and his Church". He said that Christians should be "certain" but never "triumphalist", recognizing that "the Church always needs to be evangelized". He ended his speech by apologizing for his primitive Italian".

The intervention of the Archbishop of New York impressed the cardinals, turning the spotlight on a prelate who is very distant from certain clerical attitudes, as seen on the afternoon of Saturday, February 18^th, during the courtesy calls, when Dolan distributed uproarious laughter and powerful back-slaps, not only to the expansive New Yorkers who had come to Rome to celebrate, but also to the slim curial prelates and stuck-up fellow cardinals. The best known American Vatican expert John Allen, who has just written a book-interview on him (A people of hope), defined him as the "rock star" of the consistory, remembering his communication skills. And Dolan did not contradict himself last Monday, when he took his eighty-four year old mother Shirley to the audience and asked the Pope to proclaim her "First Lady of the College of Cardinals". Ratzinger told the lady: "She looks too young to be the mother of a cardinal!" And she, showing the quick-wittedness that is characteristic of the family, asked: "Is this is an infallible statement?"

Dolan seems perfectly happy with being photographed in a baseball cap and tracksuit. He meets the boys from the Big Apple in pubs, answering their questions. He keeps a blog which he also updated during his stay in Rome, in which he described his mornings in the Eternal City, which involved confession, Mass and, inevitably, pasta. He invited readers to follow in his footsteps in terms of frequent confession. The food, however, remains a sore point for him: last year he started a diet and lost 55 pounds. However, it looks like the cardinal's ring, which the Pope placed on his finger, will need to be resisized. "The Lent fasting will give me a helping hand," said the "American Pope" with his ever-present smile.