Blase Cupich to be installed as new Chicago archbishop

[November 18, 2014]  By Mary Wisniewski
 
 CHICAGO (Reuters) - Bishop Blase Cupich, Pope Francis' first major appointment in the hierarchy of the U.S. Catholic Church, will be installed as the new archbishop in Chicago on Tuesday.

Cupich, 65, the Spokane, Washington, bishop who is seen as a moderate, succeeds the more conservative Cardinal Francis George, 77, who has cancer and is retiring. Cupich's installation Mass will start at 2 p.m.

Chicago, with more than 2.2 million parishioners, is the third-largest U.S. diocese by population and its archbishop has traditionally played a major role in the American Church hierarchy and in relations with local and national political leaders.

"I think we can expect him to be really interested in both immigration issues and the pastoral and concrete needs of immigrants," said Cristina Traina, religious studies chairwoman at Northwestern University. Forty-four percent of Chicago-area parishioners are Hispanic.
 

Cupich has also expressed an interest in addressing violence in the city, which saw 414 murders in 2013, and poverty.

Among the challenges facing the Chicago church are declining funds to support schools and parishes and the continued financial and emotional fallout of sexual abuse cases.

The city's archbishops are typically elevated to the rank of cardinal, meaning Cupich would be able to enter a conclave to elect a pope after Francis's death or resignation.

A native of Omaha, Nebraska, Cupich studied at Catholic universities in the United States and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

Crux, a major U.S. Catholic website associated with the Boston Globe, said Cupich is "widely viewed as a moderate voice among Catholic bishops (and he) often eschews cultural battles in favor of dialogue and engagement."

Cupich's views are seen as in line with Francis' call for compassion rather than condemnation on issues such as abortion and same-sex couples.

Francis also has called on bishops not to live like princes, and Cupich has said he will live in modest quarters at the cathedral rectory, rather than in the 19-chimney mansion on Chicago's Gold Coast which has been home to the city's archbishops since 1885.

Cupich will lead a widely diverse diocese with many liturgical styles. A quarter of all weekly masses are said in a language other than English.

The archdiocese also includes 17 hospitals and five Catholic colleges and universities serving 49,000 students.

(Reporting by Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Jim Loney)

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