Archbishop Dolan to return as new cardinal

A new coat of arms was unwrapped Friday at St. Patrick's Cathedral, where Archbishop Timothy Dolan will be welcomed home next week as a new U.S. cardinal.

On Saturday, Dolan is one of two American archbishops to be elevated to cardinal -- giving the United States two additional votes for the next pope. The other is Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien, a Bronx native who headed the Archdiocese of Baltimore and is now head of a Roman Catholic order of knighthood in Jerusalem that is under the protection of the pope.

On Friday, Pope Benedict XVI, cardinals and cardinals-designate gathered for a pre-consistory day of reflection on how to spread the faith in an increasingly secularized world. The meeting was headlined by Dolan.

Apologizing for his rusty Italian, Dolan peppered his remarks with his trademark good humor. He told the cardinals that evangelizing in today's world required its missionaries to live and spread the faith with love, joy -- and "sorry to bring it up, but blood."

He noted that cardinals wear scarlet cassocks to symbolize their willingness to shed their blood for the faith and that they make a pledge during the consistory to die as martyrs, if necessary.

"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."

Despite the subject matter's seriousness, Dolan's delivery lightened the mood of the otherwise somber Vatican. The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, took pains to tell journalists how appreciative the cardinals were of Dolan's "lively" remarks.

Back at St. Patrick's on Friday, Father Joe Tyrrell, the cathedral's master of ceremonies, said Dolan had chosen his own coat of arms, which included the "galero," a red tassel hat worn by cardinals, and New York's original Dutch emblem of a windmill and four crosses. The crosses symbolize taking the gospel to the four corners of the world, said Tyrrell, who spoke to reporters as work crews installed a new red carpet for Dolan's altar and throne.

A wooden plaque with the new coat of arms is installed in the back of Dolan's throne. It has three crescent moons, which represent his parents and the Virgin Mary.

Dolan returns to New York on Tuesday. The new cardinal will celebrate Mass on Feb. 25 at 10:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

With AP