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Divine inspiration: Cardinal Timothy Dolan says next pope should ‘remind you of Jesus’

Cardinal Timothy Dolan — who will travel to Rome to help choose a new pope — knows what he’s looking for.

“You always look for somebody that reminds you of Jesus,” Dolan said, explaining he’ll weigh-in on Pope Benedict XVI’s successor after the 85-year-old religious leader retires on Thursday.

“You look for somebody who just seems to radiate the love, the tenderness, the mercy, the truth of Jesus Christ,” Dolan said.

To prepare for the big decision, Dolan said he has turned to the man upstairs for some guidance.

“You got to believe me — I’m doing a lot of praying. The more this passes, I’m reminded about the awesome responsibility,” he said.

Dolan will fly to Rome in two days and soon after he will meet with a conclave of cardinals in order to elect the man who will lead the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.

His trip comes after Benedict this morning promised thousands of followers he’s not abandoning the church during his final Sunday blessing — amid allegations that a gay sex scandal triggered his resignation.

Benedict claimed he’s leaving the position on Thursday because he’s not mentally and physically strong enough to keep it.

“This doesn’t mean I’m abandoning the church,” he said to a cheering crowd of 100, 000 from his perch above St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City.

“I can continue to serve [the church] with the same dedication and the same love which I have tried to do until now — but in a way more suitable to my age and to my strength,” he said.

In New York, Dolan defended Benedict’s choice to retire, calling him “brave” and discounting reports as “rumor.”

“There’s so many rumors, so many whispers, so much gossip. I would like to think that we should take the holy father at his word,” Dolan said.

The pope’s goodbye comes after an explosive report this week linking his resignation to a network of influential gay prelates, who may have been blackmailed by male prostitutes, according to Italian newspapers.

The Vatican on Saturday denied those claims, calling them “deplorable.”