Cardinal Dolan

We are a nation of immigrants. I’m talking to you from the city that has the Statue of Liberty in the bay! Jesus Himself, the Bible, and certainly our American dream, have always called us to welcome the immigrants. @thegnewsroom

From the Declaration of Independence on, the right to life has been a particular strong mandate in the American consciousness. Life, from the baby in the womb until natural death, is sacred – and we can’t violate that! Thanks, Pope Leo, for reminding us of that. @thegnewsroom

Today is the feast of St. Benedict, so I think of the great saint Benedict, the founder of monasticism and one of the central figures in civilization, especially in Christian history. I also think of Pope Benedict the XV, the pope during the first World War, and I think of Pope Benedict XVI! @thegnewsroom

Pope Leo reminds us of the responsibilities of citizenship. We don’t just receive the blessings of our beloved country -- those blessings come with a sense of duty and responsibility. That’s always been the core of the greatness of our nation, that we will rise to the occasion, to serve. @thegnewsroom

I don’t know if you saw the letter our Holy Father sent us in celebration of the Fourth of July. It’s magnificent! Do you mind if I spend the next couple of days going through the beautiful lessons that he gives us? The first is the virtue of religious freedom. @thegnewsroom

I’m still on a firecracker high from the Fourth of July! What I liked is that it revived that virtue of patriotism. I use that word purposely. Patriotism is a virtue. We’ve got to be careful, of course – the beauty of virtues is that they’re in the middle. There can be an extreme. We call that “nationalism,” which is a vice. Nationalism means we begin to deify our nation, and it takes the place of God. @thegnewsroom

As much as I love Rome, it’s always good to go home. This weekend is special, of course, because it’s the 250th Anniversary of our beloved country. We celebrate our independence from an earthly ruler whom our founding fathers considered to be tyrannical, but our founding fathers also realized that they are dependent upon God, who takes care of this one nation under God. Happy Fourth of July, folks! @thegnewsroom

As we approach our 250th Anniversary, we rightly think of those magnificent founding fathers and the heroes that formed this beloved nation. We also remember that America has saints, which is the vocation of all of us! We recently celebrated the feast of St. Junípero Serra, a great Franciscan saint, who was a missionary in what we now call California. @thegnewsroom

I’ve shown you a bunch of churches I love, but St. Peter’s Basilica takes the cake! They mark famous churches throughout the Catholic world on the marble floor up and down the center aisle, and @StPatsNYC is here. It makes me feel at home - but everyone is home at St. Peter’s. @thegnewsroom

I’m at the North American College, the American seminary in Rome. From here you can see a statue of St. Peter, as well as the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica, because for us, St. Peter lives. St. Peter’s mission continues! @thegnewsroom

Everybody knows about the tomb of St. Peter, buried where the Basilica of St. Peter still stands. Paul was martyred across the Tiber, and he’s buried here, in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. @thegnewsroom

It’s the feast day of the two patrons of the city of Rome, Sts. Peter and Paul! It’s also a great day because my successor @AbpNewYork today got the pallium! Are you familiar with that? @thegnewsroom

I can’t seem to get out of the magnificent Basilica of Saint Mary Major! This is Pope St. Pius V, a remarkably influential pope who was the Bishop of Rome after the Council of Trent. We appreciate him very much and ask for his intercession today! @thegnewsroom

Thanks for checking back in! Today is the feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. As you know, Mary has tons of different names. One of the most famous is “Our Lady of Perpetual Help” and this is the original icon, here at St. Alphonsus Church. When I was a kid, our Archbishop, Cardinal Joseph Ritter, was given this Church as his titular Church. He asked all the kids of the archdiocese to donate pennies so he could renovate it in honor of our Blessed Mother. This place means a lot to me! @thegnewsroom

We’re back in St. Mary Major! My successor, @AbpNewYork, is on his way to Rome to get the pallium, so there’s a pilgrimage from the Archdiocese of New York here today for a Mass. I never pass up the chance to venerate the icon of Salus Populi Romani. Here at this sacred place, I’m remembering you all! @thegnewsroom

I’m back in Rome for a couple of days of meetings with the Cardinals! One of the first places I come to is the tomb of Pope Francis at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, one of my favorite churches in Rome. @thegnewsroom

Okay, one last thing! I talked to you about the prie dieu yesterday, but one thing I didn’t mention that I keep there is this Rosary, which belonged to the soon-to-be Blessed Fulton J. Sheen. @thegnewsroom

Have you ever heard of a “prie dieu”? It’s a kneeler we use to pray to God. I’ve had this with me now for about 25 years. One of the things I’ve got in here is the Ordo. @thegnewsroom

I mentioned that I need a lot of help in my prayers because I tend to wander, and these images really help me! Here’s two I have close to my rocker. @thegnewsroom

Every Catholic chapel and church has the Stations of the Cross. These are special to me, because they came from the convent of the Sisters of Mercy in Drogheda, Ireland. @thegnewsroom