Chicago archbishop's decision to honor US senator stirs Catholic
abortion debate
[September 24, 2025]
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A Catholic bishop's opposition to
the Archdiocese of Chicago's plans to honor Sen. Dick Durbin despite the
powerful politician's support of abortion rights has revived a
decades-old struggle between church teaching and political reality.
Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago announced last week that the
archdiocese will present a lifetime achievement award to the
high-ranking Catholic Democrat for his work helping immigrants at a Nov.
3 fundraiser for the archdiocese's immigration ministry.
The plans were announced as President Donald Trump's administration
maintains a surge of immigration enforcement in the Chicago area that
federal officials said Friday has resulted in at least 550 arrests.
But it's the five-term senator's support for abortion rights — while he
personally disapproves of abortion — that elicited objections from
Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Durbin's hometown, who said he
was “shocked” by the idea of honoring the U.S. Senate's No. 2 Democrat.
“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 statement.
Durbin, 80, announced in April that he would not seek reelection, ending
more than four decades on Capitol Hill. Cupich argued in a statement
that the totality of Durbin's work, including critical efforts on behalf
of immigrants, should be considered.
“Catholic teaching on life and dignity cannot be reduced to a single
issue, even an issue as important as abortion,” Cupich said. “The
recognition of his defense of immigrants at this moment, when they are
subjected to terror and harm, is not something to be regretted, but a
reflection that the Lord stands profoundly with both immigrants who are
in danger and those who work to protect them.”
The friction between U.S. bishops and Catholic politicians who support
abortion rights is a long-running phenomenon. It reached an intense
phase in 2004 when John Kerry, a Catholic, won the Democratic
presidential nomination. The 2020 election of former President Joe
Biden, another Democrat and practicing Catholic, created an
unprecedented dilemma for bishops, although Biden was allowed to receive
Communion in Washington, D.C.
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Durbin was barred from receiving Communion in his home diocese of
Springfield in 2004. Paprocki has continued the prohibition and
considers himself Durbin's bishop. Cupich claims Durbin as a member
of the Chicago Archdiocese; Durbin has previously said he found a
welcoming parish in Chicago, where he also has a home. Durbin's
office has not responded to The Associated Press' emailed interview
request.
The archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone, agreed with
Paprocki “that both clarity and unity are at risk.” Cordileone, who
in 2022 barred former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from Communion
over her support of abortion access, said in a post on the social
platform X that he hopes the issue will prompt “all members of the
Body of Christ to speak out to make clear the grave evil that is the
taking of innocent human life.”
Catholic hierarchy describes opposition to abortion as its
preeminent priority, but lay Catholics aren't necessarily on board.
According to a 2022 poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for
Public Affairs Research, most opposed the denial of Communion for
politicians who support abortion rights.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote in a 2004 statement on
“Catholics in Political Life” that no honors should go to
politicians “who act in defiance of our fundamental moral
principles” lest they signal support for their actions.
In 2021, the conference approved a long-anticipated teaching
document on Communion that some hoped would serve as a rebuke for
Catholic politicians who are for abortion rights. But it stopped
short of calling for the withholding of Communion from these public
officials.
The USCCB declined comment on Tuesday.
On immigration, U.S. bishops have been at odds with the Trump
administration on its crackdown policies. Earlier this year, the
USCCB sued the administration for its abrupt funding cut to refugee
resettlement, which it has been a part of for years. The bishops
also ended a half-century of partnerships with the federal
government to serve refugees and migrant children over funding cuts.
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Meyer reported from Nashville, Tennessee.
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