Cardinal who helped elect new pope calls to see old friend in Offaly

ONE of the cardinals who voted in conclave last week to choose the new pope has called to see an old friend in Tullamore.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, travelled from Rome to see Sister Bosco Daly, the 100-year-old Sister of Mercy who taught him when he was a primary schoolboy in Missouri, United States.

In a post on his official X account yesterday (Wednesday, May 14), the 75-year-old cardinal said: “I’m in Tullamore, Ireland with my beloved Sister Mary Bosco! She’s 100 years old and she taught me when I was just a little boy. Choosing is always important for God – He chooses us!”

Cardinal Dolan noted that May 14 is the feast day of St Matthias, the apostle chosen to replace Judas: “I thank God for Sister Bosco’s vocation, the call of Pope Leo, for St. Matthias, and for my parents, who chose to get married today in 1949. That’s choice in action! Thank God for calling us.”

He also posted a video of himself and Sr Bosco recorded in the convent in Tullamore in which he spoke directly to his 300,000 followers on the X (formerly Twitter) platform: ““Good morning everybody, I'm not in New York, I'm supposed to be in Rome with the new Holy Father but I flew over to Ireland. I'm in Tullamore, Ireland and I'm talking real loud because I'm with my beloved Sister Mary Bosco who's here at the convent of St Joseph in Tullamore and I wanted to visit her. She's 100 years old. She taught me when I was in grade school when I was just a little gosson, a little boy.”

WATCH: 'I'm in Tullamore, Ireland and I'm talking real loud because I'm with my beloved Sister Bosco... She's 100 years old'

He added: “We just chose a new pope, so this choice, this call, this location, continues in the church. I thank God for Sister Bosco's vocation as a devoted, generous Sister of Mercy, who came. I thank God for the call, the choice, of Pope Leo. I praise God for the choice of St Matthias and I praise God for the choice that Robert Dolan and Shirley Radcliffe got married today in Immaculate Conception parish in Maple, Missouri on May 14th, 1949, my Mom and Dad. That's choice in action. Thank you Lord for calling us.”

Patting Sr Bosco on the shoulder, he told viewers he would talk to them later and asked if he had said enough.

“Did you want to say anything?” he asked Sr Bosco. When she shook her head the cardinal asked: “Do you want to sing or anything?”

Again she indicates no and Cardinal Dolan joked “Thank God!” prompting laughter from the nun.

Sr Bosco, a native of Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath, celebrated her 100th birthday in January, becoming Ireland's 457th centenarian and the 11th Mercy Sister to reach the milestone (pictured below with a letter of congratulations from President Michael D Higgins).

She entered the convent in Drogheda in 1944, was professed in 1950 and trained as a teacher in Carysfort, Dublin before becoming one of four nuns selected to go on mission to Ballwin, Missouri in 1957.

One of her pupils at the Holy Infant school in Ballwin was Timothy Dolan. Speaking at her birthday party she recalled hearing a very young Timothy Dolan tell her he was thinking of become a priest and said she had “coaxed him along”.

She said she loved her time in America. “I'd go back again,” she remarked.

In his homily at a special birthday Mass, Bishop Denis Nulty addressed Sr Bosco and said of Cardinal Dolan: “He was among your pupils in first and second grade and you prepared him for First Holy Communion and he never forgets to reference and acknowledge your teaching role in the journey of faith.”

READ ALSO: Offaly-based nun becomes Ireland's 457th centenarian

Cardinal Dolan's visit to Tullamore came in between a number of engagements in Rome, from the conclave to elect the successor to Pope Francis and the inauguration Mass of his fellow American, Pope Leo IV this Sunday, May 18.

When the US-based cardinals travelled to Rome earlier this month there was much speculation in America about who would be chosen as the new pope and responding to a question from a CBS New New York reporter about his chances, Cardinal Dolan jokingly responded: “Didn't I warn you what would happen after they legalised marijuana?”

On the same day Cardinal Dolan was asked for his reaction to a depiction of Donal Trump on the president's own social media platform of himself as a pope.

Cardinal Dolan said it “wasn't good” and added: “I hope he didn't have anything to do with it.”

Cardinal Dolan has been described as President Trump's favourite cardinal in the US and he delivered opening prayers at both of the inaugurations in Washington.

Speaking on April 30 after the death of Pope Francis, President Trump made an apparent reference to Cardinal Dolan's prospecs of becoming pope.

“I must say, we have a cardinal that happens to be out of a place called New York who’s very good, so we’ll see what happens,” he remarked.

At the end of January, Cardinal Dolan clashed with Vice President JD Vance a Catholic convert, who accused the US Conference of Catholic Bishops of resettling “illegal immigrants” to receive $100m in federal funding.

Cardinal Dolan responded: “That's just scurrilous. It's very nasty and it's not true.”

He added: “You want to come look at our audits, which are scrupulously done? You think we make money caring for the immigrants? We're losing it hand over fist.”

Timothy Dolan was ordained to the priesthood in 1976 was named Archbishop of New York in 2009 and was appointed to the College of Cardinals in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI.