NEW YORK
Staten Island Advance
By Maura Grunlund/Staten Island Advance
on February 20, 2013
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — An affable Cardinal Timothy Dolan laughed at the suggestion that he would be the next pope and expressed support for holding the conclave to choose the new pontiff as soon as possible in an appearance Wednesday at Carmel Richmond Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Dongan Hills.
“All the cardinals are really embarrassed to talk about that,” the archbishop of New York said when reporters asked him whether he would succeed Pope Benedict. The cardinal added that the “church needs somebody like Jesus” to serve as pope and after listing a few of the qualities he thought important in a pontiff, Cardinal Dolan quipped, “Are they trying to get me out of here?”
As for reports that the date may be moved up from Mid-March for the cardinals to choose the new pope, Cardinal Dolan said he was in favor of “anything we could do to make sure we prudently and patiently have a new Holy Father and I can get back for Holy Week here.”
The cardinal also defended the right of embattled Cardinal Roger Mahony, the archbishop emeritus of Los Angeles, who has been accused of hiding sexual abuse by priests, in selecting a new pope.
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