President Barack Obama is turning down an invite to have the top Catholic official in the nation deliver a prayer at the Democratic National Convention, the
New York Post reported.
The snub of Timothy Cardinal Dolan comes after he agreed to deliver the benediction at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, the Post reported, even as Dolan told Democrats he would be grateful to do the same at their convention in Charlotte the following week.
“The Republicans are smart enough to get the ‘pope of America,’ and the Democrats are stupid enough not to invite him,” Bill Donohue of the Catholic League told the Post.
“The Catholic vote is the most critical vote. They’re the wild card. So, why wouldn’t you ingratiate yourself to the pope of America and send a wink and a nod to Catholics? That’s just good politics.”
Dolan’s spokesman Joseph Zwilling told The Post that Dolan, the head of the Archdiocese of New York and president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops, “wanted to make sure that they knew that this was not a partisan act on his part and that he would be just as happy and grateful to accept an invitation from the Democrats as he would to have received one from the Republicans.”
“He has not been contacted by them” since, Zwilling added.
Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, a supporter of Obama who said he likes Dolan, told the Post, “The Republicans are very smart to ask him.”
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