CHICAGO (IL)
The New York Times
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
SEPT. 20, 2014
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, replacing a combative conservative with a prelate whose pastoral approach to upholding church doctrine is more in keeping with the pope’s inclusive new tone.
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.
Francis’ choice of prelate for Chicago was highly anticipated as a sign of the direction he intends to set for the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. Chicago is the nation’s third largest diocese, with 2.3 million members, and its archbishops have often taken leading roles in the American hierarchy.
Bishop Cupich has been chairman of the bishops’ committee responding to the sexual abuse crisis, and has at times been unusually 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, and is still embroiled in a legal case over how the bankruptcy was handled.
He spoke out against a referendum on same-sex marriage in Washington state in 2012. But even before Francis became pope, Bishop Cupich and he sounded much alike. Bishop Cupich emphasized care for the poor and dispossessed, and on hot-button moral issues employed a tone that emphasized respect and dignity for gays and dialogue with those who disagreed with church teaching. “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.”
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