Dolan Offers Role Model for Choosing Next Pope

Some cardinals have a list of qualities they want in the next pope: an eager evangelist, master communicator, and deft administrator, with an ear for languages and a heart for the developing world.

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan says he has a simpler, albeit perhaps even tougher, criterion: he wants the next pope to be like Jesus.

“I hope you believe me, and I hope you believe I’m not being dismissive: you always look for somebody that reminds you of Jesus,’’ he said Sunday, speaking to reporters after celebrating Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral

“Now we’re all supposed to do that â€" anybody who claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ,’’ said Cardinal Dolan, who is the Roman Catholic archbishop of New York. “But you look for somebody who just seems to radiate the love and the tenderness, the mercy, the truth of Jesus Christ.”

Dressed in purple vestments for Lent and holding a golden crozier adorned with a carving of a lamb, Cardinal Doan said he believed the last few popes had met that standard.

“In my recent memory, the Holy Spirit’s not let us down, because the popes with whom we’ve been blessed have been a great icon of Jesus Christ, and I’m confident that the next one will be as well,’’ he said.

The Mass on Sunday was his last at St. Patrick’s before he departs for Rome on Tuesday; on Thursday, he plans to greet Pope Benedict XVI for the last time before the pope retires that evening, and then Cardinal Dolan will spend the next few weeks meeting with his fellow cardinals and choosing the next pope.

“Believe me, everybody, I’m doing a lot of praying,’’ he said, standing before the cathedral’s large Pieta. “I’m praying a lot that I’ll have the guidance and gift of the Holy Spirit to make the right decision, because this is one of the most awesome responsibilities a cardinal could ever have.”

For the second day in a row, Cardinal Dolan dismissed Italian news reports suggesti! ng that an unreleased Vatican investigation into leaks of church information might have influenced the pope’s decision to retire. He said he believed the pope’s retirement was “not about his prerogatives, his office, his prominence â€" it’s about service to our lord and his church” and that “all this other speculation, I think it’s just that â€" speculation.”

“There are so many rumors, there are so many whispers, there is so much gossip,’’ he said. “I would like to think we should take the Holy Father at his word.’’

Asked by a reporter whether Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, the retired archbishop of Los Angeles, should participate in the conclave, given that he faces criticism of his handling of sexually abusive priests, Cardinal Dolan said, “Sure he sould go. He has the right as a cardinal to go.’’

But Cardinal Dolan also said, in response to a separate question, that the Catholic church was always facing challenges and suffering.

“You see sin, you see grace,’’ he said. “You do see darkness, and you do see dazzling light.’’

Dolan Offers Role Model for Choosing Next Pope

Some cardinals have a list of qualities they want in the next pope: an eager evangelist, master communicator, and deft administrator, with an ear for languages and a heart for the developing world.

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan says he has a simpler, albeit perhaps even tougher, criterion: he wants the next pope to be like Jesus.

“I hope you believe me, and I hope you believe I’m not being dismissive: you always look for somebody that reminds you of Jesus,’’ he said Sunday, speaking to reporters after celebrating Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral

“Now we’re all supposed to do that â€" anybody who claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ,’’ said Cardinal Dolan, who is the Roman Catholic archbishop of New York. “But you look for somebody who just seems to radiate the love and the tenderness, the mercy, the truth of Jesus Christ.”

Dressed in purple vestments for Lent and holding a golden crozier adorned with a carving of a lamb, Cardinal Doan said he believed the last few popes had met that standard.

“In my recent memory, the Holy Spirit’s not let us down, because the popes with whom we’ve been blessed have been a great icon of Jesus Christ, and I’m confident that the next one will be as well,’’ he said.

The Mass on Sunday was his last at St. Patrick’s before he departs for Rome on Tuesday; on Thursday, he plans to greet Pope Benedict XVI for the last time before the pope retires that evening, and then Cardinal Dolan will spend the next few weeks meeting with his fellow cardinals and choosing the next pope.

“Believe me, everybody, I’m doing a lot of praying,’’ he said, standing before the cathedral’s large Pieta. “I’m praying a lot that I’ll have the guidance and gift of the Holy Spirit to make the right decision, because this is one of the most awesome responsibilities a cardinal could ever have.”

For the second day in a row, Cardinal Dolan dismissed Italian news reports suggesti! ng that an unreleased Vatican investigation into leaks of church information might have influenced the pope’s decision to retire. He said he believed the pope’s retirement was “not about his prerogatives, his office, his prominence â€" it’s about service to our lord and his church” and that “all this other speculation, I think it’s just that â€" speculation.”

“There are so many rumors, there are so many whispers, there is so much gossip,’’ he said. “I would like to think we should take the Holy Father at his word.’’

Asked by a reporter whether Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, the retired archbishop of Los Angeles, should participate in the conclave, given that he faces criticism of his handling of sexually abusive priests, Cardinal Dolan said, “Sure he sould go. He has the right as a cardinal to go.’’

But Cardinal Dolan also said, in response to a separate question, that the Catholic church was always facing challenges and suffering.

“You see sin, you see grace,’’ he said. “You do see darkness, and you do see dazzling light.’’

San Francisco Symphony’s Oboist Collapses During Performance

The principal oboist of the San Francisco Symphony collapsed in mid-performance of Richard Strauss’ oboe concerto Saturday night and was taken by ambulance to the hospital. An orchestra spokesman, Oliver Theil, said the musician, William Bennett, was standing on stage before the orchestra and performing when he passed out. He said Mr. Bennett, 56, suffered a brain hemorrhage and was in the hospital in “guarded condition” on Sunday. The oboist joined the symphony in 1979 and has been principal since 1987.

In a review of an earlier performance this week, the critic Joshua Kosman, writing in The San Francisco Chronicle, said Mr. Bennett gave “a rare and eloquent rendition” of the work. “Bennett, who last played the piece with the Symphony more than 20 years ago, sounded as virtuosic and forthright as ever,” Mr. Kosman wrote. “He sailed through the technical challenges of the opening movement, and brought limpid purity of tone to the slow movement.”

A Quiet Oscar Weekend at the Box-Office

LOS ANGELESâ€" The Academy Awards, or “the Super Bowl for women,” as the media industry often refers to it, typically makes for a quiet weekend at the multiplex. This year was no exception, even though both new wide-release films were aimed at men.

The No. 1 movie at North American theaters was a holdover: “Identity Thief” (Universal), which continued its remarkable run, taking in about $14 million, for a three-week total of $93.7 million, according to Hollywood.com, which compiles box office data. A new entry, “Snitch” (Lionsgate), sold about $13 million in tickets, on par with pre-release expectations but a soft result nonetheless. Third place went to “Escape From Planet Earth,” an animated movie that started slow last weekend but is now clearly a win for the Weinstein Comany; it took in about $11 million, for a two-week total of $35.1 million.

“Safe Haven” (Relativity) was fourth, selling about $10.6 million in tickets, for a two-week total of $48.1 million, while “A Good Day to Die Hard” (20th Century Fox) fell to fifth place in its second weekend, taking in about $10 million, for a new total of $51.8 million. The new micro-budgeted alien thriller “Dark Skies” (Weinstein) got a chilly reception and took in about $8.9 million.

In Artist’s Game Show, the Prize Is a Passport

Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times At her installation at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Conn., Erika Harrsch gave passport applications to Steve Kuhn of Tarrytown, N.Y., and his daughters Zoe and Eva.

With immigration once again on the national agenda, a Queens performance artist has been presenting the experience of actually going to an immigration office as akin to walking onto the set of a game show â€" as a contestant.

On Saturday, the artist, Erika Harrsch, was at the Aldrich Contmporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Conn., with her project, “United States of North America Passport.” Her installation envisions a borderless North American continent â€" a fictitious entity called the United States of North America â€" and encourages museum visitors to apply for a passport that will make them citizens.

Once an application has been completed, Ms. Harrsch, playing the role of bureaucrat, invites applicants to spin a wheel to determine their fate.

Spin to “You Win” and Ms. Harrsch, 42, hands over a passport, which confers the privilege to travel throughout the world. Land on “Illegal Alien” and she keeps that golden ticket locked in her slate-gray, Soviet-style desk.

The game, she said, tries to put participants into the vulnerable position of the millions of people who try to leave their countries every year. “I was thinking of how to create something that would actually make it touchable, this lottery process,” Ms. H! arrsch said. “Something that is so heavy can be so difficult to approach.”

On Saturday, Lee Walther, 72, strode past the black and silver stanchions that marked the entrance to the make-believe passport office. Ms. Walther spun the wheel, won and immediately began to shout with ecstasy. She clasped her hands like an Oscar winner. Ms. Harrsch handed her a passport.

All this gives, perhaps, a hint of what it feels like to suddenly become one of the relatively few with the freedom to move about the world. Danes, for instance, can land in 169 countries or territories without ever applying for a visa, according to Henley & Partners, a law firm that analyzes visa regulations every year. Born in the United States No problem. You can pass 166 borders without prior approval.

Born in Somalia or Afghanistan Fewer than 30 nations allow you to enter without applying for a visa.

“Passport,” however, isn’t just about helping passport-carrying Amricans understand the experiences of others. By pointing to â€" even mocking â€" the seemingly arbitrary nature of the laws that govern borders, Ms. Harrsch not so subtly suggests that we could live without them. “Borders are created by the mind,” she said. “Not by nature, not by instinct.”

Ms. Harrsch is originally from Mexico City and knows something about the process. She arrived in New York on a tourist visa just weeks before Sept. 11, 2001, carrying just a suitcase and hoping to pursue an artistic career in the heart of the creative world, she said.

She applied for an O-1 visa, a special residency permit for immigrants with extraordinary abilities, known more informally as artists, athletes and scientists. After submitting “a bible full of documents,” immigration officials g! ranted he! r the visa, and it allowed her to stay for six years.

In 2007, she spun the lottery wheel again, won a green card, and was promoted to resident alien. The years leading up to that, however, were fraught with anxiety.

While in Mexico waiting to learn if she would be granted a permanent visa, she began filming monarch butterflies, which travel approximately 3,000 miles every year from Canada to Mexico. “I’m literally lying on the floor, filming the butterflies” in Michoacán, she said. “I realized, they’re doing exactly my same route, but they’re so free.”

At that, “Passport” was born. The monarch butterfly has since become a central theme of the project, and the cover of Ms. Harrsch’s fantasy passport combines the designs of United States, Canadian and Mexican documents with an image of a butterfly. She envisions a world in which people travel as easily as monarchs, following the opportunities that each land has to offer.

Of course, not everyone agrees with such a roposal. “I think that’s very dangerous, absolutely dangerous,” said Elena Roman, 65, who spun the wheel on Saturday. Ms. Roman said she has traveled to Egypt, Morocco, Turkey, Italy, Costa Rica and at least half a dozen other nations. But she could not envision opening this country in a similar way. “I would love that the future would have that,” she said. “But as the world is right now, with all the hatred and all the guns and all the animosity, it’s not the time.”

She continued, “Everybody is trying to get some of this pie, and I think we need to look after our own.”

Ms. Harrsch has traveled the country with the exhibit, and shown it in China, Mexico and Poland. In the United States, activists and undocumented immigrants sometimes approach her. “They say, ‘If this is a serious issue, why are you losing your time doing an art project Do something for real,’” she said. “It’s not for me to speak with a loud voice to anybody. It’s for me more to speak to c! ommunitie! s that bring this to the attention of leaders. It’s very difficult to approach leaders, and easier to approach the world.”