NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Mayor Bill de Blasio is not committing one way or another on the plan to build a statue to America’s first saint: Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini.
Mother Cabrini topped the nominating process when New York City was considering a number of notable women to honor with a group of statues. However, First Lady Chirlane McCray and the She Built NYC Commission ultimately rejected the patron saint of immigrants for the project.
The decision to nix Cabrini, who was the first naturalized citizen to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church, upset a number of people, including Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The Democratic governor criticized the commission and told the audience at the Columbus Day Parade that the state and Catholic Church would construct an independent statue to honor Cabrini.
On his WNYC broadcast, the mayor responded to the criticism saying, “I’m not gonna get lost in this.”
“I want us all to start thinking about how people talk about things in the city and how much time is wasted on the wrong things,” the mayor said. “The whole idea was to begin a process to honor women, and it began with a set of prominent women, it was never meant to be the end all, be all.”
De Blasio did eventually concede: “I think Mother Cabrini is someone who should be honored and we'll make sure it happens.”