Bishop Paprocki protests Chicago archdiocese honor for Senator Durbin
September 22, 2025
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CWN Editor's Note: Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, has said that he is “shocked” that Senator Richard Durbin will receive a LIfetime Achievement Award from the Archdiocese of Chicago.
In a public criticism of another prelate, Bishop Paprocki said that the decision by Chicago’s Cardinal Blase Cupich to honor Durbin, despite a pro-abortion voting record, “sows confusion about the seriousness of abortion and the integrity of Catholic witness in public life.” He urged Cardinal Cupich to reconsider that decision, saying:
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—in whose diocese Durbin lives—reminded The Pillar that the senator is barred from receiving Communion in that diocese because of his public stances in opposition to Church teaching. He observed that the US bishops have “clearly taught that support for abortion disqualifies individuals from receiving honors from Catholic institutions.”
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