Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the leader of the Roman Catholic diocese in New York, defended the controversial Met Gala, where celebrities dressed in religious-inspired outfits that some Catholics slammed as blasphemous.
In an interview with The Catholic Channel on SiriusXM, Dolan admitted that he felt apprehensive before the annual ball which had as this year's theme, "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination." The cardinal, however, revealed that he found nothing offensive during the event despite some strong criticism towards the outfits online.
Some of the stars who paraded on the Met Gala red carpet had religious symbols on their dresses, such as the cross, the Nativity, or Bible passages. Some critics called the event a sacrilegious cosplay with privileged millionaires dressing up to mock Catholics.
"I didn't really see anything sacrilegious, I may have seen some things in poor taste," Dolan said. "But I didn't detect anybody out to offend the church," he added.
The church leader also managed to joke about the massive headdress Rihanna wore, which people could not stop talking about. Dolan said that the other bishops teased him about Rihanna borrowing his miter.
The Catholic Church, however, confirmed that Dolan did not actually lend anything to the celebrity. Rihanna's Met Gala gown and headdress were actually designed by John Galliano. He originally debuted the outfit for a Christian Dior Haute Couture runway show in 2000.
Meanwhile, the cardinal was one of the honored guests at the Met Gala, which opened the exhibit featuring 42 special Catholic art pieces at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Dolan has been coordinating with exhibit curator Andrew Bolton and the Met Gala host, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, for the exhibit for months.
The priest described the event as a powerful evening and said that people came up to him at the party to share their Catholic upbringing.
