CHICAGO (IL)
Chicagoist
When the Archdiocese of Chicago sent out a notice to media late Friday announcing a new conference Saturday morning, we suspected a major announcement was in the works.
And this is huge news. Blase Cupich, the current bishop of Spokane, Washington, has been elected to succeed Cardinal Francis George as Archbishop of Chicago’s Catholic Church. It’s the first time in the history of the archdiocese a successor has been named while the current archbishop is currently living.
George, 77, actively pressured the Vatican to find his successor since his cancer returned in August 2012. George has a history of battling cancer; he previously underwent radical surgery in 2006 to have a cancerous bladder and prostate removed. His current treatments, which include taking part in a trial program at the University of Chicago, forced him to cancel a trip to Rome for the canonizations of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II. He succeeded the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin as Chicago’s archbishop in 1998.
Cupich, 61, a native of Omaha, Nebraska, holds degrees from Pontifical Gregorian University and The Catholic University of America.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.