Cupich: Honoring Senator Durbin would have recognized ‘migrants as a pro-life issue’

"It is about giving equal attention to the plight of migrants as a pro-life issue.”

Cardinal Blase Cupich again defended the Archdiocese of Chicago’s attempt to grant a lifetime achievement award to Senator Dick Durbin, saying that doing so was an attempt to show migrants facing deportation as a pro-life issue.

Cardinal Blase Cupich speaks at the Keep Hope Alive benefit Nov. 3, 2025. Credit: The Pillar.

Speaking at a fundraiser for immigration ministry Monday night, the cardinal said the intended award was to acknowledge “the unique efforts of Senator Dick Durbin, who has consistently and uniquely worked for the rights of immigrants over his long career as an elected official.”

“While he has declined to accept our award, I want to make clear that the decision to honor him was about just as much recognizing his work on behalf of migrants as it is about giving equal attention to the plight of migrants as a pro-life issue,” the cardinal said.

“Catholics need to come together to defend all the threats to human life and dignity,” he said.

“Our defense of the unborn, the innocent unborn needs to be clear, firm and passionate. But equally sacred are the lives of the poor. Those already born, the destitute, the abandoned, and the underprivileged, the vulnerable infirm and elderly exposed to covert euthanasia, the victims of human trafficking, new forms of slavery, and every form of rejection.”

Cupich delivered remarks to some 400 attendees at the Keep Hope Alive fundraiser, which benefits the Archdiocese of Chicago’s immigration ministry, held at St. Ignatius Prep High School on November 3.

His comments touched on the controversy that erupted after the Archdiocese of Chicago announced in September that Durbin was to be given a lifetime achievement award by the archdiocesan office of human dignity and solidarity.

The announcement quickly drew criticism from Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, who expressed “shock” over the decision, saying in a statement that a Catholic recognition of Durbin would cause “grave scandal,” because of the senator’s “long and consistent record of supporting legal abortion — including opposing legislation to protect children who survive failed abortions.”

Paprocki explained that he intervened on the award because Durbin resides in the Springfield diocese, where he has been for years prohibited from receiving the Eucharist because of his advocacy for legal protection for abortion.

For his part, Cupich defended the award as a means of dialogue with the senator. No other bishops stepped forward in agreement with Cupich, but nearly a dozen spoke up to side with Paprocki in the days that followed, expressing concern that giving an award to Durbin would be scandalous and would violate guidance from the USCCB that “Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles.”

After several days of rare public dispute among the U.S. bishops, and with sources close to the USCCB confirming to The Pillar that numerous other bishops had privately asked conference leadership to make a statement on the matter, Durbin’s office announced that he was declining the award.

Cupich spoke at the Keep Hope Alive fundraiser, stressing that immigration ministry brings light into the darkness, and that “respecting our borders and respecting human dignity have never been mutually exclusive.”

“We stand with migrants as their families are torn apart. We stand with migrants as children are left in fear, as those arrested are detained without legal counsel and respect for their human dignity. We stand with migrants not only for their sake, but for our own as a nation,” he said.

The cardinal used much of his address to discuss the Durbin controversy.

In his speech, he referenced criticisms of his position, noting that “some would say that the Church should never honor a political leader if he or she pursues policies diametrically opposed to critical elements of Catholic social teaching.”

“But let’s be true and honest,” he continued. “The tragic reality in our nation today is that there are essentially no Catholic public officials who consistently pursue the essential elements of Catholic social teaching.”

“Total condemnation is not the way forward, for it shuts down discussion. Praise and encouragement can open it up by asking their recipients to consider extending their good work to other areas and issues,” he said.

“More broadly, a positive approach can keep alive the hope that it is worth talking to one another, collaborating with one another to promote the common good. No one wants to engage someone who treats them as a thoroughgoing moral threat to the community, but people will engage with and even learn from those who recognize them as making some contribution to a common endeavor.”

Cupich pulled many of the comments in his speech Monday from a statement he had released after Durbin declined the award.

“My hope was that honoring Senator Durbin at this celebration would serve as an invitation to Catholics who fiercely defend the vulnerable on the border between the United States and Mexico to ponder why the Church also defends the vulnerable on the border between life and death, as in cases of abortion and euthanasia,” he said. “Likewise, it could invite Catholics who tirelessly promote the dignity of the unborn, the elderly, and the sick to extend the circle of protection to immigrants that are facing in this present moment an existential threat to their lives and the lives of their families.”

“Both groups are Catholics regardless of where they fall on this spectrum, and they all need to remember that we are not a one-issue Church,” he continued.

“Ideological isolation all too easily leads to interpersonal isolation, which only undermines Christ’s wish for unity. I’m convinced that as a bishop, I should not stand by idly and tolerate the polarization in our Catholic community, but to do all I can to bring people together to find common ground in promoting and defending human life and dignity wherever it is threatened,” he said.

Editor’s Note: JD Flynn and Ed Condon contributed to this report.