Archbishop wants to honor New York church

NEW YORK, June 8 (UPI) -- Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York says he will ask Pope Benedict XVI to grant St. Patrick's Old Cathedral basilica status.

Dolan, who became New York's archbishop in April, said the Little Italy church deserved the designation given to those churches deemed to have significant historical or spiritual significance, the New York Daily News said Monday.

"I just think it deserves it," Dolan said of the New York church. "I'm so proud of this old cathedral."

Dolan announced his decision Sunday at the church as it marked its bicentennial celebration, the Daily News said.

"It is granted to churches with special prominence or significance in the life of a diocese -- and in the case of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral, in the life of the Catholic Church in this country," archdiocese spokesman Joseph Zwilling said

The Daily News said currently only Our Lady of Perpetual Help and St. James Cathedral in the Diocese of Brooklyn enjoy basilica status.

St. Patrick's Old Cathedral in Little Italy was replaced as the main church of the New York diocese until it was replaced in 1879 by St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue.