Pope appoints first US Archbishop for Chicago

Pope appoints first US Archbishop for Chicago

In his first major appointment in the United States, Pope Francis has named Bishop Blase J. Cupich of Spokane to be the next archbishop of Chicago.

In his first major appointment in the United States, Pope Francis has named Bishop Blase J. Cupich of Spokane to be the next archbishop of Chicago.

Chicago’s archbishops have often taken leading roles in the American hierarchy.

Bishop Cupich, 65, will succeed Cardinal Francis George, 77, who is ill with cancer. Two years ago, at 75, Cardinal George offered his resignation, as is traditional at that age.

In keeping with his own preferences, the Pope has replaced a combative conservative with a prelate who has a pastoral approach to upholding church doctrine.

Bishop Cupich has been chairman of the bishops’ committee responding to the sexual abuse crisis, and has at times been very forthright in criticizing the church’s record on abuse.

He took over the Spokane diocese after it was sued by abuse victims and declared bankruptcy. He also spoke out against a referendum on same-sex marriage in Washington state in 2012.

“In stating our position,” Bishop Cupich wrote in a pastoral letter before the same-sex marriage vote, “the Catholic Church has no tolerance for the misuse of this moment to incite hostility toward homosexual persons or promote an agenda that is hateful and disrespectful of their human dignity.”

Rev. John I. Jenkins, president of the University of Notre Dame, said, “Having first met Bishop Blasé Cupich when I was an 18-year-old backpacker in Europe and he was a seminarian in Rome, I can say with confidence that, as archbishop of Chicago, he will be a pastorally dedicated, theologically astute and visionary leader in line with Francis’ transformative papacy.”

Bishop Cupich was born in Omaha, one of nine children and the grandson of Croatian immigrants. He has a bachelor of arts degree from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn. He later received a doctorate in sacred theology from The Catholic University of America in Washington DC.

He worked in parishes and a Catholic high school in Omaha and served as rector of a Catholic college in Columbus, Ohio, and in 1998 was made bishop of Rapid City, S.D., by Pope John Paul II. After 12 years, Pope Benedict appointed him bishop of the diocese of Spokane.

 

 

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