Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York and president of the United States Catholic Bishops' Conference, has accepted invitations to deliver the closing prayer at both the Republican and Democratic national conventions, ahead of the November presidential elections.

There was a widespread belief that the cardinal would only appear at the Republican convention this week after Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney said in a television interview that Cardinal Dolan would be giving the benediction at the Republican National Convention on Thursday this week, the night Mr Romney was to accept his party's nomination.

A spokesman for the archdiocese insisted the Dolan's appearance was not an endorsement and yesterday announced that the cardinal had accepted an invitation to deliver the closing prayer at next week's Democratic National Convention.

Above: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney (right) and his vice-presidential running mate, Paul Ryan, a Catholic. Photo: CNS/Shannon Stapleton, Reuters