Catholic leaders urge Cardinal Cupich not to award pro-abortion radical Dick Durbin

The Archdiocese of Chicago announced last week that Cardinal Blase Cupich will give Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.) a lifetime achievement award on Nov. 3.

The prospect that a prince of the Holy See will pay honors to a radical pro-abortion activist has prompted significant backlash from prominent Catholic leaders.

'This decision risks causing grave scandal, confusing the faithful about the Church’s unequivocal teaching on the sanctity of human life.'

According to Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America's national pro-life scorecard, Durbin, a self-identified Catholic, gets a failing grade for routinely voting in support of virtually limitless abortion.

Durbin voted, for instance, in January against the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which would require health care practitioners to save babies who survive attempted abortions. He has also voted against legislation that would have criminalized abortions for unborn babies 20 weeks along or older; against adding status-quo Hyde Amendment protections to COVID relief funds; against a bill that would prohibit partial-birth abortion; and for legislation expressing support for protecting access to abortions after the Supreme Court's 2022 Dobbs decision.

In case there was any doubt about his indefatigable support for abortion, Durbin stated on the third anniversary of the Dobbs ruling in June that "this fight is far from over" and that he plans to keep fighting for mothers' legal ability to snuff out the lives growing within them.

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Concerning abortion, the church holds that abortion is a grave moral sin — the procurement of which incurs an automatic excommunication — and that political leaders have a responsibility to protect the unborn.

"The Catechism of the Catholic Church" clearly states:

• "Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception" (2270);
• "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" (2271);
• "Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life" (2272); and
• "The inalienable rights of the person must be recognized and respected by civil society and political authority. These human rights depend neither on single individuals nor on parents; nor do they represent a concession made by society and the state; they belong to human nature and are inherent in the person by virtue of the creative act from which the person took his origin" (2273).

For decades, Durbin has been barred from receiving communion in the Catholic diocese where he grew up on account of his radical pro-abortion activism.

Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield, who has long upheld the prohibition, said in a 2018 statement, "Because his voting record in support of abortion over many years constitutes 'obstinate persistence in manifest grave sin,' the determination continues that Sen. Durbin is not to be admitted to Holy Communion until he repents of this sin. This provision is intended not to punish, but to bring about a change of heart. Sen. Durbin was once pro-life."

Despite Durbin's long-standing efforts to advance policies diametrically opposed to the moral teaching of the Catholic Church, the Archdiocese of Chicago noted in its announcement for the Nov. 3 "Keep Hope Alive Benefit," subtitled "Light in the Darkness," that Durbin will receive a lifetime achievement award for his work with immigrants.

The plan is for Cardinal Cupich to give the award to Durbin on behalf of the Archdiocese of Chicago's Office of Human Dignity and Solidarity.

Blaze News has reached out both to the Archdiocese of Chicago and to Durbin's office for comment.

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Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone. Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images.

Illinois Right to Life President Mary Kate Zander was among the first to condemn the planned honors for the abortion activist, stating, "The Church emphasizes that human beings are integrated persons and that we cannot live in spiritual harmony if we are denying even one aspect of the truth of the faith."

"Presenting Dick Durbin with an award — and from the Office of Human Dignity, no less — is an explicitly inconsistent and un-Catholic choice by Cardinal Cupich," continued Zander.

"Our shepherds are supposed to proclaim Jesus' teaching that all human life is sacred," Dr. Mary Elizabeth Keen of the Catholic Medical Association’s Illinois chapter told CatholicVote. "Senator Durbin has spent his career eliminating protections for the most vulnerable members of the human family."

Bishop Paprocki said in a statement to the Pillar that he was shocked to learn of the archdiocese's plans to give Durbin an award.

"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," continued Paprocki. "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."

Bishop Paprocki noted further that such an award might violate the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' guidance that "the Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles."

The guidance adds that "they should not be given awards, honors, or platforms which would suggest support for their actions."

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of the Archdiocese of San Francisco indicated on Sunday that he stands in solidarity with Bishop Paprocki in urging Cardinal Cupich to reconsider giving Durbin the award.

"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," wrote Archbishop Cordileone. "Bishop Paprocki is correct that both clarity and unity are at risk. I hope this 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."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!