MANHATTAN — The Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan, was elevated to cardinal — the most senior rank in the Catholic Church next to the pope — on Saturday in a ceremony in Rome.
Hundreds of New Yorkers as well as a throng of Dolan's family members from Missouri made the trek to St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City to witness the outspoken cleric named to the College of Cardinals, which gives him the power to vote for the next pope, according to the Daily News.
"This hat is really for New York," Dolan said of his new red biretta, or hat, according to the paper. "I want to put it on the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge."
Dolan joins Edward Cardinal Egan, New York's previous archbishop, in the College of Cardinals and the pair will share voting privileges until Egan turns 80 on April 2.
In addition to voting for the next pope, the cardinals serve as close advisers to the current pontiff Benedict XVI, the paper said.
"I feel like Derek Jeter," said Dolan after the ceremony, according to the News.
Before replacing Egan in April 2009, Dolan, among 22 bishops elevated to cardinal Saturday, served as the Archbishop of Milwaukee.
