O'Malley At The Vatican For Cardinal Ceremony
Mar 24, 2006
As Archbishop Sean O'Malley departed for the Vatican at Logan Airport Saturday night. The normally serious archbishop of Boston seemed quite happy and even joked with reporters.
(CBS4, Mar 19, 2006) BOSTON - "Had I known I was going to be bishop, I would've studied harder in the seminary," he said. "But it wasn't on the radar screen and much less to be a cardinal, so..."
It does not seem that any book would prepare O'Malley for the job he took on, leading the archdiocese of Boston through the ending chapters of clergy sex abuse crisis.
And because of the fragile state of the church, there is less pomp and circumstance when Pope Benedict 16 names Boston's Catholic leader to the College of Cardinals.
O'Malley traveled to Rome with only two companions from his office.
Thousands of others are paying their own way. That includes Belmont's Scot Landry, who leaves for Rome next week.
"This is one of the events that I've looked forward to most in my whole life," Landry said.
Landry has been a supporter of the archbishop prior to his arriving in Boston. He founded a Catholic men's group formed to show support for the church and its leader.
When Cardinal Law was elevated to cardinal back in 1985, the archdiocese chartered a plane and there were hundreds of invited guests.
Only two people are accompanying O'Malley, who flew to Rome in the coach class of an Air France flight.
O'Malley At The Vatican For Cardinal Ceremony