New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan used his closing benediction at the Democratic convention on Thursday night to take shots at the party’s positions on gay marriage and abortion rights.
“We ask your benediction on those waiting to be born, that they may be welcomed and protected,” Dolan, who heads the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said during the prayer.
“Show us anew that happiness is found only in respecting the laws of nature and of nature’s God. Empower us with your grace so that we might resist the temptation to replace the moral law with idols of our own making, or to remake those institutions you have given us for the nurturing of life and community,” Dolan said, in an unmistakable reference to gay marriage.
Traditionally, the local Catholic bishop speaks at political conventions. Dolan was first invited to the Republican National Convention (likely due to his attacks on the Obama administration) and then extended an offer to say a prayer to close out the Democratic convention.
