Nov 26, 2007 / 09:26 am
The Archbishop of Galveston-Houston Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo was officially raised to the cardinalate at a Mass at Saint Peter's Basilica Saturday, the Houston Chronicle reports.
He discussed the honor at a news conference after the Mass.
"It is a distinctive honor, not just for Texas, but the whole South of the United States, and certainly for Houston," the new cardinal said. "We are proud of it, that the first cardinal ever in the South has been named. It is [an] honor, [a] responsibility and pretty humbling for this kid from Pittsburgh."
Cardinal DiNardo, originally from Pittsburgh, was ordained a priest there. He spent six years working at the Vatican in the Congregation for Bishops, and in 1997 was named bishop of Sioux City, Iowa. He was appointed archbishop of Galveston-Houston by Pope John Paul II in 2004.