God help us if If Dolan has significant influence on the succession process. The last thing a now voiceless American church needs is a Fox News chaplain who swallows microphones and uses Trump’s lap as his episcopal chair instead of the Big Chair at St. Patrick’s. Let him become the first Archbishop of the Diocese of Mar-a-Lago. 🤦♂️
I don't have a strong or informed opinion on Cardinal Dolan (though he did confirm me many years ago in St Louis), but you might rethink this comment as possibly crossing the line of The Pillar's comment policy (something about Christian charity I think).
If His Eminence objects, he can hunt me down through a few of his seminary classmates in St. Louis. Disappointment in his episcopate is not sinful. Pontius Pilate: “What is truth?”
It is me who sets the comment policy, which is indeed Christian charity toward our interlocutors and the subjects of our discussion. Please consider whether the above meets that .
You're welcome to express disappointment. The question is HOW we talk about our disappointment.
I do not always agree with Cardinal Dolan, but I have to say a few things in his defense. I was a seminarian at the North American College during part of his tenure there. During his time as rector, the number of seminarians increased, and there was also an increase in such things as Marian devotions and Eucharistic adoration; in fact he restored the daily Holy Hour. The faculty and spiritual directors were solid and the college was on sound financial footing. He led the Archdiocese of Milwaukee back from the wreckage that Archbishop Weakland left behind. In New York, while the vocation situation is not great, the archdiocese does have more vocations than most diocese. Even on a per capita basis, they are doing better than most of the largest dioceses. (It is well established that smaller dioceses in the US do better for vocations, which may be an argument for breaking up larger ones.) The Archdiocese of New York has also avoided bankruptcy, which most of the dioceses in New York have had to go through. As president of the USCCB, he did mount a strong defense of religious liberties, and has always been an advocate for the prolife cause. Cardinal Dolan does like to have a microphone, but that is common for bishops, and is rather par for the course for New Yorkers. He is also very warm hearted and sociable to people across the economic spectrum. Furthermore, Cardinal Dolan is completely loyal to the Church and I doubt that anyone can find a single time that he has ever contradicted Church teachings. Pope John Paul II was favorable to him as rector of the North American College, and Pope Benedict (who also would also have known him well) did select his as Archbishop of New York, which indicates they thought well of him. One can disagree with some of his policies without these personal attacks.
He is a St. Louisan, not a native New Yorker, which makes his sycophancy for the current POTUS even less palatable to many in the Archdiocese of St. Louis (including priests) where I lived for 25 years. We’re intractably arguing about opinions now. So I suppose it best to let it rest until his chips fall with Chubb Insurance and we see if he truly staved off bankruptcy for ADNY. Or is he merely not paying his bills coming due like his friend in the White House? ☮️ 🙏
"The Archdiocese of New York has also avoided bankruptcy"
Unlikely that this will continue to be the case and it's been accomplished through confiscatory taxation of parishes and at times outright misappropriation of funds.
I would very much be interested in a pillar deep dive on the influence of Cupich on episcopal appointments and the Curia, as well as an examination of the state of the union of his own diocese. From what I have gleaned, morale has been pretty poor in Chicago. I can’t help but notice that vocations plummeted after Cardinal George.
He supposedly spends a lot of time in Rome and does not make himself available to the clergy in his archdiocese, based on what I have read over the years. The funny thing is that Pope Francis has often spoken against "airport bishops" while Cardinal Cupich is one of his favorites.
There seem to be a lot of stories about crazy priests/clergy that come out of the Chicago archdiocese as well. This could be an issue of media coverage of a larger archdiocese and a matter of perception but I get the impression that Chicago has a lot of problems, many of which certainly predate Cupich, but also problems that he hasn't made any discernable progress towards fixing, if he's even trying. This isn't even getting into problems that he's caused, such as his persecution of the ICKSP.
This issue is near and dear to my heart because not only is Chicago my home archdiocese, but I also am from Mundelein. I remember hearing the bells of the seminary as I fell asleep at night.
I live out of state now, but my wife and I visited the seminary last summer. The staff told me that he spends more time in his palatial villa on the seminary grounds than in the city. He had made it a huge thing when he was appointed that he would stay in the cathedral rectory instead of the downtown mansion in the name of living simply a la Francis. Turns out he was still in a mansion, just 30 miles north.
+Cupich and +Tobin have, in fact, played a significant outsized role in the selection process for a number of decision in the United States Episcopacy. +Cupich personally hampered the most recent search for a PNAC rector a few years back, by stepping in and blackballing at least 2 preferred candidates during the confirmation process.
A friend of mine who is a member of the Catholic Young Professionals of Chicago expressed frustration when we met at the Eucharistic Congress that Cupich (who, ironically, was giving a talk there on synodality) "didn't listen to his people" based on her experiences trying to advocate for some modest changes.
Apologies for the off-topic comment -- to a great article, of just the kind for which many of us subscribe -- but I've noticed recently that the estimated read time, previously found under the headlines, are now gone. Will those be making a return at some point? I for one found them to be quite helpful. Thank you.
My opinion on Cardinal Dolan is basically the same as my opinion on Pope Francis. Not a fan and won't be sad to see him go, but I'm even more afraid of who comes after him.
My vote would be for AB Charles Brown. he is a native of ADNY, and has gained considerable experience as nuncio to both Ireland and the Philippines. He would be a solid choice.
Toups is out. We don’t make intellectuals metropolitan ordinaries anymore. They get sequestered to the peripheries. Where they have little impact on the wider Church but more orthodox minded Catholics can take comfort that there are still bishops with a focus on teaching the Faith.
Additional facts to support the claim of Cardinal Cupich calling the shots, especially regarding archepiscopal sees is that +W. Shawn McKnight (now archbishop elect of Kansas City) was a student in the seminary when Blaise was the rector.
All of the conservatives here seemed to be blowing Bishop McKnight’s horn for the Archdioceses of Washington, DC, Detroit, New York (last time +Dolan’s name came up). I met him once & liked him. Seemed orthodoxy& right of center. So is he a +Cupich guy as you claim or more centrist/ orthodox (remember his reciprocal tariff-like hymn ban that was on then off pretty quickly?) prelate? 🤷♂️
PS his episcopate in Springfield MO is a more likely driver of his promotion to Kansas City, Kansas (not Kansas City-St. Joseph Missouri) than any +Cupich/Seminary connection. His predecessor Archbishop Joseph Naumann was a St. Louis auxiliary before his promotion to KC Kansas. Seems like more of a midwestern episcopal pedigree. Bishop Ed Rice, a St. Louis auxiliary before being promoted to Springfield-Cape Girardeau in Missouri in 2016, also has this very likable, well-balanced midwestern pedigree.
+McKnight would probably have been better as a diplomat than as a bishop in charge of a diocese. He is very much a Vatican II fan (odd for someone under the age of 65) and a politician. I think he is orthodox, but he will say whatever he thinks those in power want him to say. Right now it's synodality, so you will here him use that word quite a bit. I can say this with absolute certainty, this is a Cupich appointment. Pierre wouldn't be against it, but this is primarily due to the AB of Chicago.
Absolutely. He buried one of my closest priest friends in the Archdiocese of St. Louis & was pastor in Overland MO of one of my closest professional friends. ❤️ 🙏
Cardinal Cupich does not always promote liberals. For example, Archbishop Grob of Milwaukee used to be the exorcist in the Archdiocese of Chicago, hardly something a liberal would do. Cupich is not like the old liberal bishops like Cardinals Bernardin or Mahoney, and I think almost blind loyalty to his directives is more important to him than being liberal. Really like an American Pope Francis.
I stay out of Church-related palace intrigue because, except for a select few, and I would count both JD and Ed among those few, I think it’s a very spiritually dangerous arena, and so for the sake of my soul and my mental health, I stay far away from it. I also strictly limit how much news I read and stay away from stuff I don’t have any control over, because I think getting caught up in that stuff is also spiritually dangerous and also a form of the sin of sloth.
I will, however, pray that a good and orthodox successor to Cardinal Dolan be chosen when the time comes, and I am happy to pray for that intention.
The new Archbishop of New York will be one of the following five:
One of Cardinal Cupich's remaining proteges who are diocesan bishops, but not Archbishops yet: Bishops Hicks of Joliet, IL, Tylka of Peoria, Illinois, or Biegler of Cheyenne, Wyoming
Cardinal McElroy's protege Bishop John Patrick Dolan of Phoenix
Pope Francis' favorite American enforcer who is the bishop most often sent to investigate an American bishop before the Pope sacks him: Archbishop Hebda of St. Paul, Minnesota.
Cardinal Dolan is unlikely to pick his successor under this Pope and Thompson and Flores are way too orthodox Catholic to advance under Pope Francis.
I sincerely hope I am wrong about my prediction because I think none of the 5 bishops I listed deserves to go to New York.
I've worked in the Archdiocese of St. Paul - Minneapolis, and all I can say is that Abp. Hebda is a man of humility and integrity, and he is regarded as such by his clergy and seminarians. So careful with the insinuations there. If he is an "enforcer," it would be because he's going to do as good of a job cleaning up a messy situation as he did in his Archdiocese.
Well, in the summer of 2021, Archbishop Hebda allowed and openly embraced, by sending his representative liberal retired Bishop Pates, for the annual meeting of the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests (AUSCP) to be held in the Archdiocese of St. Paul. The AUSCP is heretical by supporting women "priests," homosexuality, and the adoption of children by homosexual and transgender couples ( which studies have shown to dramatically increase self-destructive behavior of kids later on such as drug abuse, homosexuality, and sexual promiscuity). This organization has been condemned and barred by other bishops like Bishop Daniel Thomas of Toledo, but Archbishop Hebda welcomed them happily in all his liberal humility.
+Checchio makes plenty of sense. Another name that seems to make sense to me is Archbishop Hebda. Orthodox but centrist among the bishops, has a competency with Spanish, and clearly has the trust of Rome to assume complex situations first with Newark and then St. Paul. He's experienced but still not even 66. I couldn't say what his relationship to either +Dolan or +Cupich is, much less Cardinal Pierre, but you would think +Wuerl would be an advocate, and Pillar reporting over the DC appointment suggests the Archbishop Emeritus still has juice in Rome. But in the words of Paulie Walnuts, "What the hell do I know?"
+Cupich, +Tobin, and +Gregory are powerful figures in Rome who actively influence appointments and selections, and those three are not going to trust +Hebda in a seat arguably more powerful than any of theirs. +Francis is basically in a quasi-hospice state, and came within a hair's breadth of dying just a month ago, and so the trio needs to make sure they leverage the current status quo and get a sure ally in NYC before who-knows-what can happen with a conclave and a new pontificate that may quickly shift the tides away from +Francis' vision. Couple that with the current butting heads between Rome and the Trump Administration, which increases the status of those three in the Curia as allies for +Francis' vision in the US. They need to cement these power centers while they can!
The last thing +Cupich would want is to be stuck playing second fiddle to a new NYC Cardinal with an affinity for tradition, familiarity with celebrating the TLM, orthodox positions and an ongoing calcification against everything that +Cupich stands for and does... but now that new guy is emboldened by a change of winds in Rome with a new pope who may undo at least some of the Francis and Synodality stuff.
Cardinals Cupich, Tobin, and Gregory are hard at work asking that exact same question as we speak. No doubt they are already laying down the groundwork between DC and Rome to hand-pick that successor.
I'd love to imagine the dramatic theatrics of Saint Patrick's doors flinging open during the Episcopal Appointment Mass to reveal the new Cardinal Archbishop, and as the light streams in from 5th Avenue through the portico, a figure stands backlit and cast in shadow, then steps forth to reveal the haggard countenance of a certain bishop, once from deep in the heart of Texas, with a coy grin... "Look who's back, baby."
Rigali's name was in reference to former nuncios becoming archbishops of major sees. I mean to attach the note higher up to Adam Boyles' observations that nuncios almost never become ordinaries.
God help us if If Dolan has significant influence on the succession process. The last thing a now voiceless American church needs is a Fox News chaplain who swallows microphones and uses Trump’s lap as his episcopal chair instead of the Big Chair at St. Patrick’s. Let him become the first Archbishop of the Diocese of Mar-a-Lago. 🤦♂️
I don't have a strong or informed opinion on Cardinal Dolan (though he did confirm me many years ago in St Louis), but you might rethink this comment as possibly crossing the line of The Pillar's comment policy (something about Christian charity I think).
If His Eminence objects, he can hunt me down through a few of his seminary classmates in St. Louis. Disappointment in his episcopate is not sinful. Pontius Pilate: “What is truth?”
It is me who sets the comment policy, which is indeed Christian charity toward our interlocutors and the subjects of our discussion. Please consider whether the above meets that .
You're welcome to express disappointment. The question is HOW we talk about our disappointment.
YES, thanks for your post.
Just a reminder of the pillar's commenting policy.
I do not always agree with Cardinal Dolan, but I have to say a few things in his defense. I was a seminarian at the North American College during part of his tenure there. During his time as rector, the number of seminarians increased, and there was also an increase in such things as Marian devotions and Eucharistic adoration; in fact he restored the daily Holy Hour. The faculty and spiritual directors were solid and the college was on sound financial footing. He led the Archdiocese of Milwaukee back from the wreckage that Archbishop Weakland left behind. In New York, while the vocation situation is not great, the archdiocese does have more vocations than most diocese. Even on a per capita basis, they are doing better than most of the largest dioceses. (It is well established that smaller dioceses in the US do better for vocations, which may be an argument for breaking up larger ones.) The Archdiocese of New York has also avoided bankruptcy, which most of the dioceses in New York have had to go through. As president of the USCCB, he did mount a strong defense of religious liberties, and has always been an advocate for the prolife cause. Cardinal Dolan does like to have a microphone, but that is common for bishops, and is rather par for the course for New Yorkers. He is also very warm hearted and sociable to people across the economic spectrum. Furthermore, Cardinal Dolan is completely loyal to the Church and I doubt that anyone can find a single time that he has ever contradicted Church teachings. Pope John Paul II was favorable to him as rector of the North American College, and Pope Benedict (who also would also have known him well) did select his as Archbishop of New York, which indicates they thought well of him. One can disagree with some of his policies without these personal attacks.
He is a St. Louisan, not a native New Yorker, which makes his sycophancy for the current POTUS even less palatable to many in the Archdiocese of St. Louis (including priests) where I lived for 25 years. We’re intractably arguing about opinions now. So I suppose it best to let it rest until his chips fall with Chubb Insurance and we see if he truly staved off bankruptcy for ADNY. Or is he merely not paying his bills coming due like his friend in the White House? ☮️ 🙏
"The Archdiocese of New York has also avoided bankruptcy"
Unlikely that this will continue to be the case and it's been accomplished through confiscatory taxation of parishes and at times outright misappropriation of funds.
Sorry, I am woefully uninformed. What did Cardinal Dolan do in relation to Trump?
He attended either the inauguration or some inauguration events. (Maybe he’s also spoken favorably of Trump but I can’t personally confirm that.)
I think he's mostly talking about the Al Smith dinner last October right before the election (where Kamala Harris was a no-show).
I would very much be interested in a pillar deep dive on the influence of Cupich on episcopal appointments and the Curia, as well as an examination of the state of the union of his own diocese. From what I have gleaned, morale has been pretty poor in Chicago. I can’t help but notice that vocations plummeted after Cardinal George.
He supposedly spends a lot of time in Rome and does not make himself available to the clergy in his archdiocese, based on what I have read over the years. The funny thing is that Pope Francis has often spoken against "airport bishops" while Cardinal Cupich is one of his favorites.
There seem to be a lot of stories about crazy priests/clergy that come out of the Chicago archdiocese as well. This could be an issue of media coverage of a larger archdiocese and a matter of perception but I get the impression that Chicago has a lot of problems, many of which certainly predate Cupich, but also problems that he hasn't made any discernable progress towards fixing, if he's even trying. This isn't even getting into problems that he's caused, such as his persecution of the ICKSP.
This issue is near and dear to my heart because not only is Chicago my home archdiocese, but I also am from Mundelein. I remember hearing the bells of the seminary as I fell asleep at night.
I live out of state now, but my wife and I visited the seminary last summer. The staff told me that he spends more time in his palatial villa on the seminary grounds than in the city. He had made it a huge thing when he was appointed that he would stay in the cathedral rectory instead of the downtown mansion in the name of living simply a la Francis. Turns out he was still in a mansion, just 30 miles north.
+Cupich and +Tobin have, in fact, played a significant outsized role in the selection process for a number of decision in the United States Episcopacy. +Cupich personally hampered the most recent search for a PNAC rector a few years back, by stepping in and blackballing at least 2 preferred candidates during the confirmation process.
A friend of mine who is a member of the Catholic Young Professionals of Chicago expressed frustration when we met at the Eucharistic Congress that Cupich (who, ironically, was giving a talk there on synodality) "didn't listen to his people" based on her experiences trying to advocate for some modest changes.
Apologies for the off-topic comment -- to a great article, of just the kind for which many of us subscribe -- but I've noticed recently that the estimated read time, previously found under the headlines, are now gone. Will those be making a return at some point? I for one found them to be quite helpful. Thank you.
We lost them, but I'll see if we can get them back.
Awesome, many thanks.
Estimated read time for comments would also be welcome!
My opinion on Cardinal Dolan is basically the same as my opinion on Pope Francis. Not a fan and won't be sad to see him go, but I'm even more afraid of who comes after him.
I know a former CFR who said that Dolan never saw a microphone he didn’t like.
My vote would be for AB Charles Brown. he is a native of ADNY, and has gained considerable experience as nuncio to both Ireland and the Philippines. He would be a solid choice.
And a holy man as well.
I certainly would not rule this out. I had considered him a possibility for Boston with his Irish background. New York would certainly be sensible.
The track of nuncio to diocesan ordinary is almost non-existent.
What about Justin Rigali? He was a nuncio.
He was Secretary of the Nunciature in Madagascar before he was a bishop.
Toups is out. We don’t make intellectuals metropolitan ordinaries anymore. They get sequestered to the peripheries. Where they have little impact on the wider Church but more orthodox minded Catholics can take comfort that there are still bishops with a focus on teaching the Faith.
Additional facts to support the claim of Cardinal Cupich calling the shots, especially regarding archepiscopal sees is that +W. Shawn McKnight (now archbishop elect of Kansas City) was a student in the seminary when Blaise was the rector.
All of the conservatives here seemed to be blowing Bishop McKnight’s horn for the Archdioceses of Washington, DC, Detroit, New York (last time +Dolan’s name came up). I met him once & liked him. Seemed orthodoxy& right of center. So is he a +Cupich guy as you claim or more centrist/ orthodox (remember his reciprocal tariff-like hymn ban that was on then off pretty quickly?) prelate? 🤷♂️
PS his episcopate in Springfield MO is a more likely driver of his promotion to Kansas City, Kansas (not Kansas City-St. Joseph Missouri) than any +Cupich/Seminary connection. His predecessor Archbishop Joseph Naumann was a St. Louis auxiliary before his promotion to KC Kansas. Seems like more of a midwestern episcopal pedigree. Bishop Ed Rice, a St. Louis auxiliary before being promoted to Springfield-Cape Girardeau in Missouri in 2016, also has this very likable, well-balanced midwestern pedigree.
+McKnight would probably have been better as a diplomat than as a bishop in charge of a diocese. He is very much a Vatican II fan (odd for someone under the age of 65) and a politician. I think he is orthodox, but he will say whatever he thinks those in power want him to say. Right now it's synodality, so you will here him use that word quite a bit. I can say this with absolute certainty, this is a Cupich appointment. Pierre wouldn't be against it, but this is primarily due to the AB of Chicago.
Side-note, but Bishop Rice is pretty great. Very well-loved by his people and seems like he is always himself.
Absolutely. He buried one of my closest priest friends in the Archdiocese of St. Louis & was pastor in Overland MO of one of my closest professional friends. ❤️ 🙏
Cardinal Cupich does not always promote liberals. For example, Archbishop Grob of Milwaukee used to be the exorcist in the Archdiocese of Chicago, hardly something a liberal would do. Cupich is not like the old liberal bishops like Cardinals Bernardin or Mahoney, and I think almost blind loyalty to his directives is more important to him than being liberal. Really like an American Pope Francis.
I stay out of Church-related palace intrigue because, except for a select few, and I would count both JD and Ed among those few, I think it’s a very spiritually dangerous arena, and so for the sake of my soul and my mental health, I stay far away from it. I also strictly limit how much news I read and stay away from stuff I don’t have any control over, because I think getting caught up in that stuff is also spiritually dangerous and also a form of the sin of sloth.
I will, however, pray that a good and orthodox successor to Cardinal Dolan be chosen when the time comes, and I am happy to pray for that intention.
Let me make a prediction:
The new Archbishop of New York will be one of the following five:
One of Cardinal Cupich's remaining proteges who are diocesan bishops, but not Archbishops yet: Bishops Hicks of Joliet, IL, Tylka of Peoria, Illinois, or Biegler of Cheyenne, Wyoming
Cardinal McElroy's protege Bishop John Patrick Dolan of Phoenix
Pope Francis' favorite American enforcer who is the bishop most often sent to investigate an American bishop before the Pope sacks him: Archbishop Hebda of St. Paul, Minnesota.
Cardinal Dolan is unlikely to pick his successor under this Pope and Thompson and Flores are way too orthodox Catholic to advance under Pope Francis.
I sincerely hope I am wrong about my prediction because I think none of the 5 bishops I listed deserves to go to New York.
Let's go with the Bishop of Phoenix. There will be a cost savings in not having to change the nameplates.
Ha! Indeed. I joked that Trump picked JD Vance for VP just to avoid having to redesign the campaign logo that had said Trump - Pence
I've worked in the Archdiocese of St. Paul - Minneapolis, and all I can say is that Abp. Hebda is a man of humility and integrity, and he is regarded as such by his clergy and seminarians. So careful with the insinuations there. If he is an "enforcer," it would be because he's going to do as good of a job cleaning up a messy situation as he did in his Archdiocese.
Well, in the summer of 2021, Archbishop Hebda allowed and openly embraced, by sending his representative liberal retired Bishop Pates, for the annual meeting of the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests (AUSCP) to be held in the Archdiocese of St. Paul. The AUSCP is heretical by supporting women "priests," homosexuality, and the adoption of children by homosexual and transgender couples ( which studies have shown to dramatically increase self-destructive behavior of kids later on such as drug abuse, homosexuality, and sexual promiscuity). This organization has been condemned and barred by other bishops like Bishop Daniel Thomas of Toledo, but Archbishop Hebda welcomed them happily in all his liberal humility.
+Hebda was Newark before StP/Mpls, no? Another sort of “crossing the river.”
+Hebda also a J.U.D. Uniquely educated in civil and canon law to navigate what could still be a long haul for legal ArchNY legal problems.
+Checchio makes plenty of sense. Another name that seems to make sense to me is Archbishop Hebda. Orthodox but centrist among the bishops, has a competency with Spanish, and clearly has the trust of Rome to assume complex situations first with Newark and then St. Paul. He's experienced but still not even 66. I couldn't say what his relationship to either +Dolan or +Cupich is, much less Cardinal Pierre, but you would think +Wuerl would be an advocate, and Pillar reporting over the DC appointment suggests the Archbishop Emeritus still has juice in Rome. But in the words of Paulie Walnuts, "What the hell do I know?"
I don't think +Hebda can make the cut.
+Cupich, +Tobin, and +Gregory are powerful figures in Rome who actively influence appointments and selections, and those three are not going to trust +Hebda in a seat arguably more powerful than any of theirs. +Francis is basically in a quasi-hospice state, and came within a hair's breadth of dying just a month ago, and so the trio needs to make sure they leverage the current status quo and get a sure ally in NYC before who-knows-what can happen with a conclave and a new pontificate that may quickly shift the tides away from +Francis' vision. Couple that with the current butting heads between Rome and the Trump Administration, which increases the status of those three in the Curia as allies for +Francis' vision in the US. They need to cement these power centers while they can!
The last thing +Cupich would want is to be stuck playing second fiddle to a new NYC Cardinal with an affinity for tradition, familiarity with celebrating the TLM, orthodox positions and an ongoing calcification against everything that +Cupich stands for and does... but now that new guy is emboldened by a change of winds in Rome with a new pope who may undo at least some of the Francis and Synodality stuff.
"Who will succeed Cardinal Dolan?"
Cardinals Cupich, Tobin, and Gregory are hard at work asking that exact same question as we speak. No doubt they are already laying down the groundwork between DC and Rome to hand-pick that successor.
I'd love to imagine the dramatic theatrics of Saint Patrick's doors flinging open during the Episcopal Appointment Mass to reveal the new Cardinal Archbishop, and as the light streams in from 5th Avenue through the portico, a figure stands backlit and cast in shadow, then steps forth to reveal the haggard countenance of a certain bishop, once from deep in the heart of Texas, with a coy grin... "Look who's back, baby."
If the Pope waits until the lawsuit in NYC is done he may have already been replaced. So who knows how the Archdiocese will turn out?
Rigali (Philly) comes immediately to mind. He was also the head of CDF.
Isn’t Rigali 90 years old?
Rigali's name was in reference to former nuncios becoming archbishops of major sees. I mean to attach the note higher up to Adam Boyles' observations that nuncios almost never become ordinaries.
Oh that makes so much sense! I thought you were saying he was a possibility for NY and I was so confused!
Cardinal Rigali was neither a nuncio or a Prefect.
Isn’t there a custom of cardinals retiring later, at 80, or am I mistaken?