Pope names Archbishop Dolan new cardinal

Archbishop Timothy Dolan will soon have a new title: cardinal. Pope Benedict XVI announced during a midday Mass at the Vatican that Dolan, Archbishop of New York, is among 22 newly-named cardinals to be recognized at a consistory called in Rome on Feb. 18.

A consistory -- or, consistorium, in Latin -- is a formal meeting of the Sacred College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church. The official Vatican website is reporting that the pope made the announcement at the midday Angelus for the celebration of the Feast of the Ephiphany on Friday, also naming new cardinals in Toronto, Prague, Berlin, Hong Kong, Jerusalem and Syro Malabar, India.

Dolan, who will turn 62 on Feb. 6, had named the archbishop of New York by the pope on Feb. 23, 2009, after serving as the archbishop of Milwaukee.

He was installed as the archbishop on April 15, 2009.

Dolan was ordained to the priesthood on June 19, 1976, according to the Archdiocese of New York, then served as an associate pastor at Immacolata Parish in Richmond Heights, Mo., until 1979, when he began studies for a doctorate degree in American Church History at Catholic University. He then served in parish ministry in the St. Louis area from 1983 to 1987, before being appointed to a five-year term as secretary to the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C. In 1994, he was appointed rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome, serving until 2001 -- when he was named the auxiliary bishop of St. Louis by Pope John Paul II.

Dolan was scheduled to deliver Masses at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Friday at 7 a.m., 7:30 a.m. and 8 a.m. -- with afternoon Masses to begin at noon.