Parishioners offered cookies, flowers, cards, prayers, and even a supply of beer to Archbishop Timothy Dolan over the weekend, to celebrate his elevation to cardinal, the New York Times reports.

On Sunday Archbishop Dolan celebrated morning mass in St. Patrick’s Cathedral for the first time since Pope Benedict XVI made the formal announcement.

Making an indirect reference to his promotion, he said: “Pardon my laryngitis today...I’ve been talking way too much”.

Simon Paulino (43) from Park Ridge in New Jersey brought Archbishop Dolan a gift basket filled with beers and snacks.

“He likes beer,” the father of 12 told the New York Times.
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Speaking to reporters after the mass, Archbishop Dolan said he was surprised by the timing of his elevation. He said two garbage bin collectors outside his residence on Madison Avenue on Saturday even took note of his new position.

“Are you the new cardinal?” they asked.

His promotion will become official at a Vatican ceremony next month.
Meanwhile, it emerged that the Vatican resorted to Wikipedia as a source of information when it released biographies of the 22 new cardinals who were appointed on January 6th.

The Irish Times reports that biographies, sent to journalists, were cut and pasted from Wikipedia’s Italian language site without attribution.

The Vatican spokesman Father Federico said the biographies had been labeled as “unofficial” and they had decided to use Wikipedia as a “temporary measure”.