Dolan emerges as star among newest cardinals

VATICAN CITY

Pope Benedict XVI Saturday brought 22 Catholic churchmen, including New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, into the elite club of cardinals who will elect his successor.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan emerged as something of the star of the consistory, delivering a highly praised speech Friday on spreading the faith and mentioned in some Italian media Saturday as an improbable "papabile," or having the qualities of a future pope.

Traditionally Americans are ruled out as papal contenders, with the argument that the world doesn't need a superpower pope. But Dolan's joyful demeanor seemed to have struck a chord in the Vatican.

"He certainly is going to be given many responsibilities as a cardinal," said the other American who was elevated Saturday, Cardinal Edwin O'Brien, the outgoing archbishop of Baltimore.

Dolan dodged the question Saturday when asked about the speculation by a gaggle of reporters who traveled from the United States for the ceremony: "Io non parlo Inglese," he said in Italian. ("I don't speak English.")

In remarks at the start of the service, Benedict recalled that the red color of the three-pointed hat, or biretta, and the scarlet cassock that cardinals wear, symbolize the blood that cardinals must be willing to shed to remain faithful to the church.

"The new cardinals are entrusted with the service of love: love for God, love for his church, an absolute and unconditional love for his brothers and sisters even unto shedding their blood, if necessary," Benedict said.

It was a similar theme Dolan touched on in his keynote speech to cardinals and the pope on Friday, which was peppered with jokes, references to books, films and his own experiences as archbishop in New York, Milwaukee and as rector of the U.S. seminary in Rome.

"Holy Father, can you omit the 'shedding of your blood' when you present me with the biretta?" Dolan asked the pope. "Of course not! We are but 'scarlet audiovisual aids' for all of our brothers and sisters also called to be ready to suffer and die for Jesus."

The Vatican said the pope had given Dolan a papal thumbs up, terming his speech "enthusiastic, joyful and profound." Dolan said Benedict referred to the speech again Saturday during the few moments they shared privately when Benedict gave him his skullcap, biretta and ring.

"He thanked me again for yesterday, which meant a lot," Dolan told reporters at a reception after the ceremony. "He did have a little trouble getting the ring on the finger, which was a little embarrassing."

Dolan's biretta was donated by the Pave the Way Foundation, a nonprofit based in Long Beach that promotes religious freedom.

"It's a wonderful feeling," said Pave the Way founder and president Gary Krupp, who is in Rome but did not attend the ceremony. "You become a part of the event."

Benedict entered St. Peter's Basilica aboard the moving platform he has been using for several months to spare him the long walk down the center aisle.

Benedict, who turns 85 in April, has been slowing down recently. His upcoming trip to Mexico and Cuba, for example, is light on public appearances, with no political speeches or meetings with civil society planned as has been the norm to date.

Even yesterday's consistory was greatly trimmed back to a slimmer version of the service used in 1969: Only one of the cardinals actually read his oath of loyalty aloud, while the others read it silently to themselves simultaneously. A reading was cut out as was a responsorial psalm.

With Robert Brodsky