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Saturday Morning News

Cardinal John O'Connor Celebrates 80th Birthday

Aired January 15, 2000 - 8:27 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: There's a special mass today at Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York City as Cardinal John O'Connor celebrates his 80th birthday. There's also a party at the Waldorf Astoria.

CNN's Maria Hinajosa tells us what Cardinal O'Connor's eight decades mean to America's Roman Catholic faithful.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARIA HINAJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Catholics around the world, the word of God, it's believed, comes from here. Many traditional Catholics in the United States, though, turn to Saint Patrick's Cathedral and New York's archbishop for religious leadership closer to home.

REV. THOMAS REESE, EDITOR, "AMERICA": When someone is the archbishop, the cardinal Archbishop of New York, he has a bully pulpit from which to preach.

HINAJOSA: And while liberal Catholics take issue with many of his positions, when Archbishop John Cardinal O'Connor speaks from the media center of the world, people listen.

REESE: He gets a lot of attention when he speaks out on issues, much more than, say, the Bishop of Omaha.

HINAJOSA: And so he does. On the death penalty ...

CARDINAL O'CONNOR: I am opposed to the use of the death penalty.

HINAJOSA: On war.

O'CONNOR: I have never met a military man or a woman who doesn't hate war.

JOE ZWILLING, NEW YORK ARCHDIOCESE SPOKESMAN: He has, in people's minds, become that leading spokesman for the Catholic Church in this country.

HINAJOSA: Officially, that spokesman is Bishop Joseph Viorenza (ph) of Houston, Texas, president of the National Conference of Bishops. But the power of New York's archdiocese may also come from its diversity and the constant influx of new immigrants who fill its 413 parishes.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: He's touching more people, a greater number of people so he would have a little more influence.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: The diocese is so large that it probably makes a big impact on the positions that, various positions in the Catholic Church.

HINAJOSA: Archbishop O'Connor has built a lot of his own power because he's never shied away from controversy.

O'CONNOR: Without us that child is defenseless.

HINAJOSA: He's remained staunchly anti-abortion and anti-birth control, critical of homosexual behavior and yet gives those conservative positions a progressive tone.

NAT HENTOFF, BIOGRAPHER: You can't be just against abortion. You have to be against poverty, against capital punishment, against anything that diminishes life.

HINAJOSA: As Archbishop John Cardinal O'Connor turns 80, the question of who may replace him looms. Will that person carry his torch or take U.S. Catholics in another direction?

Maria Hinojosa, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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