Cardinal Timothy Dolan, also the Archbishop of New York, on Friday
blamed the Roman Catholic church's obsession with gays on the media.
Dolan, who was among the Cardinals vying to replace Pope Benedict
XVI, appeared on CBS This Morning to discuss Pope Francis
saying that the church should pay less attention to its rules on
abortion, gay marriage and contraception.
“We have to find a new balance; otherwise even the moral edifice
of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the
freshness and fragrance of the Gospel,” Francis said.
(Related: Pope
Francis says Catholic Church should welcome all, gays included.)
“I love him. Everyday, I think thank God he was elected,”
Dolan said.
“Do you agree, has the church spent too much time talking about
abortion, gays, homosexuality, and contraception?” co-anchor Norah
O'Donnell asked.
“I wonder if we all spend too much time talking about that. I
mean you guys would admit that's usually the things you ask me about,
right? So, I don't know if it's just the church that seems obsessed
with those issues. It seems to be culture, society,” Dolan
answered. (The video is embedded on this page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)
However, Dolan, as president of the United States Conference of
Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has made opposing gay marriage a central
tenet of the group. The USCCB hosts the website Marriage:
Unique for a Reason, which calls on Catholics to support
efforts to define marriage as only a heterosexual union.
Dolan also vocally opposed passage of New York's gay marriage law,
calling
it “Orwellian social engineering.”