The Pope’s statement on the Durbin award: wrong, and irrelevant
By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Sep 30, 2025
Pope Leo’s answer to a question about the Chicago archdiocesan award for Senator Durbin was certainly disappointing. It was also largely irrelevant.
The key question—the question that American bishops are now asking—is whether Cardinal Cupich can justify bestowing an honor on a pro-abortion politician. Pope Leo did not address that question.
In rolling out the shopworn “seamless garment” approach, the Pope suggested that some other unnamed politicians should not be classified as pro-life. American Catholics have been debating that issue for 40 years. But right now the issue is not the status of those other hypothetical politicians. The question is whether Durbin is pro-life. By the Pope’s own statement, he is not. “The Church teaching on each one of those issues is very clear.” Therefore Durbin should not be honored by a Catholic institution. Case closed.
This is not a complex question, like an election in which one candidate offends against one aspect of Catholic teaching while the other offends against another. At times Catholic voters must choose between flawed alternatives. In this case there was no need to honor Durbin or any other politician. The Chicago archdiocese has chosen to single out this senator for an honor that he does not deserve.
”I am not terribly familiar with the particular case,” the Pope said as he began his response to a reporter’s question. That is an excellent reason for a Roman Pontiff to avoid any direct answer to a vexed political question. And in a sense (see above) Pope Leo did not answer. But his non-answer muddled the issue—in two different ways.
Several American bishops (there are ten names on the list as I write) have felt compelled, by their duty as defenders of the faith, to oppose the Durbin award. Unfortunately most of the American hierarchy has remained silent. The Pope’s statement will probably ensure that timid bishops—of whom there are many—will maintain that silence.
As for the substance of the Pope’s remarks, the arguments are familiar. A Catholic can be pro-life and still support the death penalty—unless centuries of Catholic teaching can be discarded. The Catholic Church unequivocally supported the death penalty until midway through the 20th century. Indeed many theologians, including St. Thomas Aquinas, held that the sanction of capital punishment as a punishment for murder is an affirmation of the Church’s horror at the unjust taking of a human life.
The Pope’s claim that American treatment of immigrants is “inhuman” is a spectacular rhetorical excess. Faithful Catholics may criticize ICE tactics, but no one (save the most thoroughly irresponsible denizens of the extreme Left) argues that ICE is killing people. The immigration debate is in no way commensurate with the debate over the killing of unborn children.
But again these are familiar arguments. More to the point, they are not the argument that is troubling American Catholics today. By approving the Lifetime Achievement award for Durbin, Cardinal Cupich is pushing beyond the range of the “seamless garment” excuse. He is saying not merely that Durbin can be supported in preference to a (supposedly) flawed Republican electoral opponent, but that Durbin should be held up as a model for Catholic political leadership. Even an honest advocate of the seamless garment approach should reject that outrageous claim.
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Posted by: grateful1 -
Oct. 19, 2025 9:17 AM ET USA
Superb piece. My only disagreement is the acceptance of Leo's claim that he was unfamiliar with the matter. He's from Chicago, for heaven's sake, and is familiar with Durbin's views because he shares them in all ways but one, which he obviously has no problem glossing over. Shame on Leo.
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Posted by: kmmcki -
Oct. 03, 2025 8:47 PM ET USA
Pope Leo is an equivocator. He feints right then heads left. At this time in history, I believe we, the Faithful; are all on our own.
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Posted by: Retired01 -
Oct. 02, 2025 3:53 PM ET USA
It appears to me that Pope Leo doesn't want to offend anyone, and in particular, the progressive and pro Francis side. Thus, the confusion and the anything goes agenda will likely continue in the Church.
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Posted by: esfrausto3426 -
Oct. 02, 2025 7:39 AM ET USA
Pope Leo has everything to gain here on earth and in the hereafter by speaking clearly to Catholics and everyone else. Our Lord even through parables was direct, did not mince words. What's an award if one loses one's soul? Pope Leo, show who you serve, be upfront, don't be lukewarm. I pray.
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Posted by: holtzmanke7326 -
Oct. 01, 2025 9:49 PM ET USA
It's just very sad the extent politics infests the outlook of some of our Catholic leaders. Apropos, the news this evening showed Pope Leo blessing a chunk from an iceberg--is this the leadership we expected? He needs our prayers more than ever. To repeat, it is just very sad.
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Posted by: howwhite5517 -
Oct. 01, 2025 5:13 PM ET USA
Amen Mr Lawler, a succinct summary easy to understand.
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Posted by: jxsteinke1207 -
Oct. 01, 2025 3:18 PM ET USA
Spin, bull, weak! Here we are again. 60 some million unborn human beings have been crying out for a voice from the one who has true spiritual authority,to defend them, to allow them to live. So sorry my dear ones. We do not have that for you in this Pope, we have another ambiguous voice. It is sickening. Oh, to have a spine like Saint Mother Teresa, and the courage to shake her finger at the Clinton administration for murder. Where is the moral, spiritual leadership? Definitely not in the Vatican.
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Posted by: feedback -
Oct. 01, 2025 10:18 AM ET USA
Gemini AI says: "Whataboutism is a rhetorical technique used to deflect criticism by responding to an accusation with a counter-accusation, often implying a false moral equivalence. The tactic is a form of the 'tu quoque' (Latin 'you too') logical fallacy, which seeks to undermine the legitimacy of the accuser rather than address the original argument." That definition describes the "seamless garment" fallacy. No Pope, or Cardinal, or anyone ordained to act In Persona Christi should be using it.
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Posted by: Lucius49 -
Oct. 01, 2025 9:05 AM ET USA
Your article is absolutely on target. The Pope is not addressing the urgency of the situation in the Church and seems to be "fence sitting." Can the interviews! It continues a bad practice from the last papacy and does not encourage proper thought and reflection necessary from a Pope hence doctrinally problematic/incoherent remarks off the cuff. The Pope can pick up the phone and call some of these bad episcopal actors and do his task of correcting and confirming the brethren.
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Posted by: Crusader -
Sep. 30, 2025 7:48 PM ET USA
Pope Leo: "The Church teaching on each one of those issues is very clear.” Very true. So why does he equate the murder of the unborn with the execution of murderers which the Church has sanctioned for over 1900 years? Why does he say that deporting illegals, many of whom are guilty of additional crimes is inhumane. When Leo was elected I determined to make no judgement on him until the end of the year. He is making that very difficult. I am sorry. His response is pathetic.
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Posted by: ewaughok -
Sep. 30, 2025 6:45 PM ET USA
Excellent post! But it’s more disturbing than the post indicates. In some ways it shows that Pope Leo XIV does not understand Catholic theology. There is no “unless centuries of Catholic teaching can be discarded”. No Pope can discard centuries of magisterial teaching. So Prevost saying this shows deep confusion about Catholic theology. He is not just wrong in a particular instance, but totally out to lunch. A man with a doctor in Cannon Law cannot always be trusted as a theologian. That’s plain.