Blase Cupich
Three Catholic cardinals are speaking out about some of the Trump administration’s recent foreign policy actions.
Leo said he had spoken “explicitly” with Gov. JB Pritzker and urged him to not sign the bill into law. Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich did the same, Leo told reporters as he left his country house in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome.
“While recognizing that appropriate policies are necessary to keep communities safe, I encourage you to continue to advocate for society to respect the human dignity of the most vulnerable,” Pope Leo XIV said.
Speakers blasted songs including “Born in the U.S.A.” and “American Pie” as six cardinal electors from the United States gathered in Rome on Friday to share their thoughts on the election of the first U.S.-born pope, Cardinal Robert Prevost.
The United States is the home country for 10 of the 133 cardinals eligible to vote for the next pope. That’s more than any nation except Italy, home to 17 of the electors who will gather Wednesday for the Vatican conclave to choose the successor to Pope Francis.
“We’re certainly going to mourn the loss of a truly wonderful leader, someone who was a great example, who lived their faith in word and action,” Auxiliary Bishop Lawrence Sullivan said. “But it’s also a time to really be grateful for his phenomenal leadership.”
Cardinal Blase Cupich, the Archbishop of Chicago, has released a statement on the death of Pope Francis.
“It is incredibly disheartening to see a local church leader who once aligned himself with our cause participate in such a deeply anti-life, anti-family event as the DNC,” Illinois Right to Life president Mary Kate Zander said in a statement.
For the Parliament of the World’s Religions, the week-long event marks a return to its roots – the organization was founded in Chicago in 1893. In the past 30 years, it has convened six times, most recently in Toronto in 2018.
The Chicago Archdiocese released a letter Saturday saying that a review board found “no reason to suspect” that the Rev. Michael Pfleger was guilty of the allegations. Pfleger had stepped away from his duties as pastor of St. Sabina Church in October during the review.
Cardinal Blase Cupich reinstated the Rev. Michael Pfleger as senior pastor of St. Sabina Catholic Church after an investigation of allegations of sexual abuse of a minor more than 40 years ago “concluded that there is insufficient reason to suspect Father Pfleger is guilty of these allegations.”
Cardinal Blase Cupich asked the Rev. Michael Pfleger to step down as senior pastor of St. Sabina Catholic Church while the Archdiocese of Chicago investigates an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor more than 40 years ago.
Following days of violence and looting throughout the city and county, a group of faith leaders, community activists and politicians are urging peaceful protests while calling for reform. “There’s a way we can resist constructively,” said Jahmal Cole.
Mass at all Archdiocese of Chicago churches will be suspended starting Saturday until further notice in an effort to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus. “This is not a decision I made lightly,” Archbishop Blase Cupich said in a statement.
Cardinal Blase Cupich expressed regret for “our failures to address the scourge of clerical sexual abuse” in a statement responding to the attorney general's report.
The Catholic Church is struggling to deal with worldwide sex abuse scandals. And within its own walls, the church seems to be at war with itself.