Pope Leo XIV weighed in Tuesday on a controversial plan by Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago to honor Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., with a lifetime achievement award despite the lawmaker’s support for abortion rights. Several bishops had objected to the honor because the Catholic Church officially holds that abortion violates the Fifth Commandment that “thou shalt not kill.”
In comments to reporters, Leo — a Chicago native — urged Catholics not to view any political figure through a single-issue lens and expressed a nuanced view on the church’s pro-life teachings.
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“I think it’s important to look at the overall work that a senator has done during, if I’m not mistaken, in 40 years of service in the United States Senate,” he said. “I understand the difficulty and the tensions. But I think, as I myself have spoken in the past, it’s important to look at many issues that are related to the teachings of the church.”
Cardinal Cupich had intended to honor Durbin for his “singular contribution to immigration reform and his unwavering support of immigrants.” Amid the controversy, Durbin ultimately decided to decline the award. He has not responded publicly to the pope’s comments.
What was the controversy?
Durbin has long advocated for immigrants and was a co-author of the DREAM Act. The legislation would grant a path to citizenship for immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally as children. Lawmakers have debated the bill since 2001. The majority of the bill was carried over into the American Dream and Promise Act, but lawmakers have not discussed the bill since 2023.
Bishops have previously denied Durbin holy communion because of his stance on abortion. One of them, Bishop Thomas Paprocki, said he was shocked that Cupich selected Durbin for the award, saying it would cause a “grave scandal” and confuse some within the church about the “Church’s unequivocal teaching on the sanctity of human life.”
Besides Paprocki, nine other bishops have spoken out against the decision.
What did Pope Leo say about the controversy?
Leo’s comments reflected on the complexities of being “pro-life.”
“Someone who says, ‘I’m against abortion,’ but is in favor of the death penalty is not really pro-life,” he said. “Someone who says, ‘I’m against abortion but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States,’ I don’t know if that’s pro-life.”
“So they are very complex issues and I don’t know if anyone has all the truth on them,” Leo added. “But I would ask first and foremost that they would have respect for one another and that we search together both as human beings and in that case as American citizens and citizens of the state of Illinois, as well as Catholics, to say that we need to be close to all of these ethical issues. And to find the way forward as a church. The church teaching on each one of those issues is very clear.”
