NY archbishop to give Republican convention benediction

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York and the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, will give the benediction on the concluding night of the Republican National Convention, Mitt Romney revealed Wednesday night.

Romney was asked about a new regulation, implemented earlier this year by the Obama administration, that would require employers to provide free access to birth control through their health insurance. During his response, Romney revealed Dolan had been tabbed to give the benediction.

"Well, first of all, I’ll continue to meet with to Cardinal Dolan — who by the way is going to offer the benediction on the last evening of the Republican convention after my acceptance speech," Romney told radio host Raymond Arroyo. "So I am making it very clear that the interest of religious freedom is something I support wholeheartedly and will work with him and with others to assure that each piece of legislation that we consider is thought also in terms of its impact on religious freedom and tolerance."

A member of the Mormon Church has reportedly been tabbed for the convention's invocation, meaning that the opening and closing prayers will be represented by the faiths of the two men on the ticket — Romney's Mormonism and Paul Ryan's Catholicism. The 2012 Republican nominees are the first major-party ticket since 1860 not to feature a Protestant.

A spokesman for Dolan told The Washington Post his appearance was not intended as an endorsement.

"It's not an endorsement," said Joseph Zwilling, who said the cardinal had extended offers to both political parties. "It's a priest going to pray."

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