Archbishop-elect Cupich seen as Pope's personal 'progressive' choice

September 30, 2014

Veteran Vatican journalist Sandro Magister of L'Espresso reports that Pope Francis did not consult with the Congregation for Bishops, nor solicit opinions from the American hierarchy, before choosing Bishop Blaise Cupich to become the new Archbishop of Chicago.

Magister writes that Honduran Cardinal Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga and retired Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, DC, are believed to be the main supporters of the Cupich appointment. The Italian journalist observes that Bishop Cupich had not been especially prominent within the American hierarchy, pointing out that last November, when the US bishops elected a new president and vice-president of their episcopal conference, Bishop Cupich finished 7th in the presidential election and 5th in the vice-presidential contest.

However, Magister says, Archbishop-elect Cupich was "the most distinctly 'progressive'" of the candidates for leadership positions in the American bishops' conference. He writes:

Cupich’s voice - as noted both by conservative Catholics, with distress, and by progressives, with satisfaction - always rings out loud and clear when the talk is of immigration or the death penalty, but he seems to get laryngitis every time there is a discussion of abortion, euthanasia, and religious freedom, or criticism of the Obama administration over health care reform.

 

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Further information:

• Vatican Diary / Behind the scenes of the Chicago appointment (L'Espresso)