Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, was elevated to the College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome on Saturday. Cardinal Dolan, a 62 year-old Missouri native, was one of 22 new cardinals who will participate in the election of the successor to the current Pope, Benedict XVI.

[youtube CIUgBbBIzAY]

On Friday, Cardinal Dolan, head of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), gave the keynote address at a day of reflection for the Pope and Catholic leaders. His address, focused on spreading the Christian faith in a secularized world, was echoed during the elevation ceremony on Saturday by Pope Benedict, who reminded the new cardinals that the red of their three-pointed hat and robes symbolizes the blood they must be prepared to shed for their beliefs.

As the leader of Catholic bishops in the United States, Cardinal Dolan has stood firmly against the Obama administration’s attempt to force Catholic institutions to provide free contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs to their employees. The USCCBrejected what the White House termed an “accommodation,” to the ObamaCare mandate, which simply shifted the requirement to provide the free items and procedures to the insurance companies employed by the Church.

---

Asked about his intentions to continue to address the HHS mandate, Cardinal Dolan told myfoxny.com:

We’ll keep at it. We keep preaching the principles. We’re pastors, we’re into principles, we’re into values, we’re into virtue. We’re also loyal American citizens who want to keep calling America back to what has made it great, and that, of course, is religious freedom. So, count on that voice remaining…

Congratulations to Timothy Cardinal Dolan! We look forward to his continued leadership.