Cordileone and Paprocki Urge Cupich To Drop Award for Pro-Abortion Senator Durbin

UPDATE: Cupich Tells Critics To Go Pound Sand

Two prominent U.S. bishops are publicly urging Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago to rescind plans to honor Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., with a “Lifetime Achievement Award,” citing the senator’s decades-long record of supporting abortion.

On Sept. 19, Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield — Durbin’s home diocese — issued a blistering statement: “I was shocked to learn that the Archdiocese of Chicago plans to honor Senator Richard Durbin with a Lifetime Achievement Award through its Office of Human Dignity and Solidarity Immigration,” Paprocki said.

He stressed that Durbin’s record is incompatible with Catholic teaching.

“Given Senator Durbin’s long and consistent record of supporting legal abortion — including opposing legislation to protect children who survive failed abortions — this decision risks causing grave scandal, confusing the faithful about the Church’s unequivocal teaching on the sanctity of human life,” Bishop Paprocki wrote. “Honoring a public figure who has actively worked to expand and entrench the right to end innocent human life in the womb undermines the very concept of human dignity and solidarity that the award purports to uphold.”

Paprocki reminded Cardinal Cupich that both the U.S. bishops and Chicago’s own policies bar honoring individuals who promote abortion.

“Senator Durbin, who has been barred from receiving Holy Communion in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois since 2004 for his public support of abortion, should not be celebrated by the Church. This decision not only contradicts the Church’s moral doctrine but also sows confusion about the seriousness of abortion and the integrity of Catholic witness in public life,” Bishop Paprocki added. “I urge Cardinal Cupich to reconsider this action for the sake of clarity, unity, and fidelity to the Gospel of Life.”

On Sept. 21, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco amplified Bishop Paprocki’s concerns in a statement posted on X.

“I stand in solidarity with Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, in urging Cardinal Cupich to reconsider giving Senator Durbin a Lifetime Achievement Award through the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office of Human Dignity and Solidarity given his long record of supporting legal abortion,” Archbishop Cordileone wrote.

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