Archbishop Timothy Dolan elevated to cardinal

"That's awesome!"

That's how Archbishop Timothy Dolan described the news today that Pope Benedict XVI will be elevating him to cardinal. Archbishop Dolan is one of two Americans among the 22 cardinals-designate who will formally be elevated to the position in a February ceremony at the Vatican.

The archbishop's blunt and colorful response to this news is exactly in keeping with the charming, bigger-than-life man who Morley Safer profiled in March 2011, when Dolan was two years into his term as head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York, sometimes called America's "most prominent pulpit."

"Did you always have, dare I say, the gift of the gab?" Morley asked the archbishop.

"Yes, according to my mom, yes. You couldn't shut me up," Dolan said.

As Morley described him: "Dolan is hard to miss: this burly, overweight, cherubic Irish-American charges through life like a holy bulldozer, his brow gleaming, hands reaching. It's a laugh a minute, hugging, glad-handing and backslapping everyone from street cops to big-time donors."

And he likes a good, cold beer.

In Morley's interview you'll get the full flavor of Archbishop Dolan's legendary personality and humor, and you'll hear his stance on the important issues challenging the Catholic Church today: the clergy sexual abuse crisis, the debate over priestly celibacy and the state of Catholicism in America today.

By the way, among the first people Archbishop Dolan called when he learned the news of his elevation to cardinal was his mother, Shirley. What did she tell her son? "It's about time!" As the archbishop said in a press conference: "Only moms can say that."