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Outraged Catholics are rallying to stop Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, from presenting a “Lifetime Achievement Award” to Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who has long supported abortion rights.
“After decades of faithful prayer, pro-life marches, persistent efforts of the U.S. bishops conference to defund Planned Parenthood, and even the founding of a religious order to end abortion, this award shocks the Catholic conscience with its insensitivity to the evil of abortion and undermines the Church’s leading role in defending the unborn,” Kelsey Reinhardt, president and CEO of CatholicVote, told Fox News Digital in a statement.
The group has launched a petition through their online CatholicVote Action Center where users can directly message Cardinal Cupich’s office, asking him not to honor Durbin with the “Lifetime Achievement Award,” for his “support to immigrants.” As of Monday, more than 20,000 people had signed.
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Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, is facing backlash from Catholics after announcing plans to honor Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., with a “Lifetime Achievement Award.” (Photo: ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images, MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images) (Getty Images)
The event is scheduled for Nov. 3 during the “Keep Hope Alive Benefit 2025,” hosted by Cupich and the Archdiocese’s Office of Human Dignity and Solidarity Immigration Ministry at St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago.
CatholicVote said it supports plans by March for Life Illinois to peacefully protest outside the Nov. 3 event.
“We hope that protest will not be necessary,” Reinhardt said. “We join the now nine U.S. bishops who have, in a spirit of fraternal correction, encouraged Cardinal Cupich to change his mind. That is why we need all those who recognize the killing of an unborn child as intrinsically evil to ask Cardinal Cupich to cancel his plans to honor Senator Durbin. The CatholicVote Action Center will remain operative on this issue until he does.”
The Catholic Church teaches that, “Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law.”
Several bishops have spoken out against Cupich’s plans to honor Durbin with the award.
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Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco has criticized plans to honor Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., with a “Lifetime Achievement Award.” (Liz Hafalia/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images) (Liz Hafalia/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, where Durbin lives, according to his official biography, said in an interview with The Pillar published on Sept. 20 that the move would cause “great scandal.”
“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,” Paprocki said.
In a post on X, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco also spoke out against it, saying “Bishop Paprocki, who is Senator Dick Durbin’s bishop, has expressed shock that the Archdiocese plans to honor Senator Durbin who, although a self-professed Catholic, supports access to abortion so radically that he has even opposed legislation to protect babies born after an attempted abortion. Bishop Paprocki is correct that both clarity and unity are at risk.”
Cordileone added that he hopes the situation “will be a clarion call to all members of the Body of Christ to speak out to make clear the grave evil that is the taking of innocent human life.”
Bishop James D. Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, posted on X that he was “was shocked and bewildered to learn of this Lifetime Achievement Award to be presented to U.S. Senator Dick Durbin. The senator’s public record has been consistently pro-abortion and he has opposed any protections or safeguards for unborn children in the womb, even to the point of rejecting legislation to protect children who survive failed abortions.”
Other bishops that spoke out against Cupich’s plans to present Durbin with the award include Bishop James S. Wall of Gallup, N.M., Bishop Michael F. Olson of Fort Worth, Texas, Bishop Carl A. Kemme of Wichita, Kan., Bishop James V. Johnston of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., and retired Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, formerly of Kansas City, Kansas.
Fox News Digital reached out to Cupich and Durbin for comment.
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Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., has faced criticism from Catholic leaders over his record on abortion. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
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