DANIEL S. writes:

It is too early to know exactly what sort of pope Francis will be, but we do know the papal conclave exercised good judgment. For as Ilana Mercer reminds us, Cardinal Timothy Dolan was not elected to the position:

Mercifully, the new pope is not the Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan. Shortly after Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected as the 266th pope, Cardinal Dolan demonstrated why my prayers had been answered. The American had been bypassed.

Out of the papal conclave and into the limelight charged the vainglorious Dolan (who, it has to be said, harbored hopes of becoming pope). He then suctioned himself to the television cameras, American style. No other cardinal elector granted interviews on emerging from the Sistine Chapel; they were enjoined to secrecy.

Not the American cardinals. According to the Associated Press, these prolix self-promoters held daily press briefings near the Vatican to a room packed with reporters and television crews.

This was vulgarity, not transparency.

Not for nothing was the vow of silence once considered a test of character and spirituality in Christianity and in other faiths. This universal value has been inverted by American pop culture and pop religion. In the US, a deeply private person is considered defective; a blabbermouth who does and says anything on camera is canonized.

Dolan, by CBS’s telling, “broadcasts a weekly radio show,” and “was hardly silent during the cardinals’ self-imposed hush order.” For his vulgar electioneering, the Archbishop of New York was dubbed by Kean University historian Christopher Bellitto “The Ed Koch of Catholicism.” Having gigged with liberal comedian Stephen Colbert, Dolan’s showman credentials are “better” than Koch’s.

American public life is such that even our pick for pope (Dolan) struts his stuff like a “Jersey Shore” reality star.

Indeed, if only self-promotion and buffoonish displays were his only vice. Sadly Dolan also has a long history of coddling liberal “Catholic” politicians and worse.

—- Comments —-

Don Vincenzo writes:

Ilana Mercer’s description of Timothy Cardinal Dolan’s suctioning up to the tv cameras is only one aspect of his preening, for it must also be understood that the Cardinal/Archbishop of New York has become the primary Church advocate for amnesty for illegal aliens in the country.

In a recent piece at Vdare, I wrote:

Within USCCB, the current President, Timothy Cardinal Dolan of the New York Archdiocese, has become the “go-to guy” in articulating the Church’s position on immigration.

In February, 2012, upon returning from Rome where he had received his red hat as a cardinal, Dolan was quoted by the NY Times in which he said:

[H]e first wanted the church to be more effective locally and nationally in its outreach to immigrants, particularly Latinos, who are no longer in Catholic schools in the numbers they once were.

“The church has been the engine of welcoming people, caring for them and getting them settled as happy, productive citizens who are loyal citizens and loyal Catholics,” he said. “It bothers me that for the first time in American Catholic history, we may not be responding well to the needs of immigrant children in our Catholic schools.”

At no previous time did the Church’s hierarchy accept, much less, condone the breaking of law by immigrants. But since the ending of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), the traditional approach has been replaced by unprecedented immigration enthusiast zeal.

This movement to the Left by the bishops can also be seen in other actions, most recently in the dramatic refusal by Cardinal Dolan to withdraw his invitation to the Al Smith Dinner to the most anti-Catholic, pro-abortion president in our history—despite thousands of requests that he do so.[Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? Cardinal Dolan Defends Invitation to Obama for Al Smith Banquet, by Joan Frawley Desmond, National Catholic Register, August 15, 2012]

Dolan’s dealing with Gov. Cuomo’s patently anti-Catholic actions against Church teaching have also been overlooked, which, given the Cardinal’s approach to shepherding his flock is all of a piece: go along to get along and don’t make waves.

Prior and during the recent conclave several of the Italian “Vaticanist” blogs, almost always better informed about what’s going on in the Vatican than other sites, all had similar comments. The actions of the Cardinal from New York were “not serious,” and neither was his candidacy to ascend the Throne of Peter.

Min-Bee writes:

I just want to forward this Crain’s article to you, as it shows that the two of the Cuomos did not just knock Francis, but were rooting for Dolan!!!!!

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