NEW YORK
Wall Street Journal
By SOPHIA HOLLANDER and JENNIFER MALONEY
Cardinal Timothy Dolan emerged this week from the conclave that elected Pope Francis with what some described as rock-star status in the Roman Catholic church. But now he will need to summon all of his diplomatic and managerial skills to navigate escalating challenges facing the New York archdiocese.
His unexpected emergence as a contender for the papacy “gives him a kind of boost that is quite remarkable,” said Terrence Tilley, chairman of the theology department at Fordham University in New York. “He becomes more of an influential person, a kingmaker in clerical and Vatican circles.”
Although some cardinals sniffed at the prelate’s informal style, he received effusive coverage in the Italian press, gave disarming interviews to media outlets such CNN and was mobbed when he appeared in a local parish before the conclave. He said he wants to rebrand Roman Catholicism as a joyful experience that can appeal to a new generation.
But Cardinal Dolan now confronts an array of organizational, political and legal challenges to his role among the leaders of American Catholicism, including questions over how he handled the priest sexual abuse scandal while archbishop of Milwaukee.
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