Cardinal Dolan Shares Insight About President Trump’s Deepening Religious Faith

New York Archbishop Cardinal Timothy Dolan is preparing to deliver midnight Mass on Christmas, but first he sat down for a wide-ranging interview about, among other things, the Christmas season and President Donald Trump’s faith in God.

He appeared on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” with host Maria Bartiromo and discussed how Trump’s relationship with God seems to have grown much closer recently.

As Fox News reported:

“There seems to be a newfound appreciation for the role of faith, especially in our country,” he told the “Sunday Morning Futures” host.

“I think President Trump tapped into that. I’ve had talks with him before in the past. He was pretty blunt [that] he can’t say that he was raised as a very zealous Christian, but he takes his Christian faith seriously. He has a lot of memories about Norman Vincent Peale, the famous preacher here in New York, down… on Fifth Avenue, and I think he means it.”

He continued, “I think the assassination attempts kind of renewed in him, ‘There’s something beyond me that I think is watching over me, and it’s got a task for me.’ And what he expresses personally seems to be expressed more and more throughout the world. And that’s part of America.”

Perhaps there is something bigger watching over the world, he suggested, pointing to former President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II, two figures whose contributions helped define the latter part of the 20th century. They both survived assassination attempts very close to one another, each going on to help make the world what it is today.

Trump himself has been outspoken about the role of faith in his life and in the future of our nation:

I had a wonderful opportunity to sit with President Donald Trump, who I have known for decades, and talk with him about his faith, the recent assassination attampts, and much, much more. Grateful to all of the faith leaders that came out to the Faith Summit with the National… pic.twitter.com/qr1w7Yhlfl

— Paula White-Cain (@Paula_White) October 30, 2024

WATCH:

Trump reveals how the assassination attempt impacted his faith.

"My faith took on new meaning on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania where I was knocked to the ground by what seemed like a supernatural hand — I would like to think that God saved me for a purpose and… pic.twitter.com/WUmLhQLlLk

— Noah Griffith (@Noah_Griffith_) October 21, 2024

“Never, have I ever seen a man in this position, talk about Jesus Christ this way”

Trump humbly gives glory to Christ and reminds people that our hope is not in politicians or the government, but in GOD. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/X8UJEJKjbN

— CatholicVote (@CatholicVote) September 20, 2024

Dolan also discussed the significance of Wednesday’s holiday during a recent Newsmax interview:

“So Christmas is his hope to recreate, to call us back. That’s for the invitation of Christmas.”

He noted that people ask why it can’t be Christmas every day.

“Well it can,” said Dolan. “If you put God first, if you’ve got that crib scene in your living room where everybody’s focused on the revelation of God through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, whose birthday we’re celebrating, you’ve got things in order … you’ll be renewed like Notre Dame was in Paris.”

Dolan also on Saturday discussed the recent election. President Joe Biden and now-President-elect Donald Trump split the Catholic vote four years ago, but Trump won it this year by 18 points.

“I do think it was two things. I think some Catholics liked some of the policies, some of the proposals, some of the promises that Donald Trump had had were, was making,” said Dolan. “I [also] think a good number of Catholics were bristled a little and were a bit chagrined at some of the policies that his opponent, Kamala Harris, was proposing.”

Here’s a clip from his recent Fox News appearance: