Cardinal Dolan: The Pope Is Shaking Things Up

Traditional Catholics need not fear the pope's approach, said Dolan, the Holy Father is not changing the essentials.

This morning, in the wake of the furor over Pope Francis' remarks in an interview with America magazine, Cardinal Dolan went on the morning talk shows and confirmed that the Holy Father was calling for a new approach to evangelization that would shake up the church.

On the Today Show here, Cardinal Dolan said,

I'm listening to him. He's asking for a fresh strategy. 

On CBS here Cardinal Dolan said that the Pope is bringing the Church back to the essentials, but not altering the fundamentals of the faith, Asked about the anxiety of "traditional" Catholics who fear the Holy Father is sowing confusion or discouraging people in the trenches on issues like abortion or marriage, the cardinal said that devout Catholics need not fear the pope's effort to shake up the church's engagement with the world. He said the pope's first six months have fullfilled the expectations of the cardinals who elected him.

We wanted a man who had a heart, we wanted a man who could teach like Jesus, we wanted a man who could get us back to the essentials of the church.