CHICAGO (IL)
The Tablet
24 July 2014 by Michael Sean Winters
One of the most important sees in the United States, Chicago, has to be filled, after Cardinal Francis George declared his wish to resign on the grounds of age and ill-health
Chicago’s cardinaL Francis George announced this spring that the process to select his successor has begun. He submitted his resignation two years ago, when he turned 75, as required by canon law. As well, George announced in May that his cancer had returned and he is re-entering treatment.
The appointment of a new Archbishop of Chicago will likely be the most important appointment that Pope Francis makes in the American Church. George is the sixth archbishop of the Windy City to be made a cardinal, and his successor is likely to be the only cardinal in America’s Midwest region as St Louis and Detroit have declined in significance. This will also be the first major diocese filled since Pope Francis shuffled the membership of the Congregation for Bishops and stated, on several occasions and in different ways, that he wants shepherds who “have the smell of the sheep” upon them, men as interested in loving their flock as teaching it, let alone hectoring it.
The appointment also comes at a time when divisions within the American episcopate have become more evident. Two years ago, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops could not pass a statement on poverty, a sign of how divided they are: poverty is not usually a neuralgic issue for clergy who have read Matthew 25. Last year, the bishops reportedly had a heated discussion about how to respond to the Obama administration’s contraception mandate during their executive session. Many bishops feel that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) staff have not shown much evidence of getting on board the Pope Francis bandwagon.
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