He still “carries a lot of weight” within the Catholic Church, despite losing a kilo or so. The Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan, who will receive the Cardinals’ biretta next 18 February, a man endowed with such charisma and character that the media have even gone as far as to call him the “American Pope”, is one pretty well-built man. Sixty one year old Dolan, who is one metre and eighty centimetres tall, has a roaring laugh and is a great lover of food, good wine and cigars, has been on a diet for almost a year now.
This was confirmed in recent days, in a statement given to the New York Daily News, by his doctor, Howard Shapiro, the diet guru and cult author of a series of best sellers on the topic: “Yes, our personalised work plan began last February – the doctor said – and I could see immediately that the patient was motivated and focused: in the first two months and half, he lost 25 kilos.” What number did the needle on the weighing scale stop at before the archbishop started the “treatment” and exercises? “I will never reveal the starting weight of the man who will one day become Pope,” Shapiro said with a smile. “Let’s just say – he continued – that in order to achieve his ideal weight he will have to lose another 25 kilos. But I would be over the moon if in the four weeks before he is nominated cardinal he managed to lose about a dozen or so kilos...”
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