He's not exactly Pope material, but Dolan is charming Rome

Vatican City: He keeps a set of vestments here, at the American seminary, so he doesn't have to lug the red robes back and forth to New York. He is a practiced frequent flier - last fall, he flew a round-trip in a day, borrowing a billionaire's jet so he could preside at a dinner in New York without missing a meeting in Rome. And he keeps careful tabs on both cities - last weekend, in Rome to bid farewell to one pope and help choose the next, he ducked into a priest's office to watch a streaming webcast of Yankees and Mets spring training.

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, the archbishop of New York, has become an object of fascination in Rome for the fluency of his juggling act - he is simultaneously head of the United States' most prominent Catholic diocese and president of its national conference of bishops, tapped by the Vatican for numerous prestigious assignments and by network television anchors for their most prized interview spots.

In the weeks since Pope Benedict XVI announced his intention to retire, the possibility that Dolan could succeed him has been largely dismissed on the theory that his biggest strengths - outsize personality, Everyman affect, relentless public cheer - mark him as distinctively American in a way that makes it unlikely he would be chosen by his colleagues. But in recent days, his joyful and telegenic orthodoxy is getting new attention in Rome; on Thursday, a prominent Vatican reporter, Sandro Magister, highlighted his qualifications, calling him "the consummate candidate, who represents the impulse in the direction of purification."

Dolan has colourfully dismissed speculation that he could be pope, insisting that he expects, and is eager, to return to New York. Nonetheless, this interregnum between popes has become a crucial period for him, presenting an opportunity for him to use mass media to reach Catholics in his vast and diverse archdiocese, and to elevate his stature as he faces battles with President Barack Obama over health insurance regulations and with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo over a proposed liberalization of New York's abortion laws.
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http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/he-s-not-exactly-pope-material-but-dolan-is-charming-rome-340241