CHICAGO (IL)
WLS
[with video]
CHICAGO (WLS) — Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Washington, will be the next archbishop of Chicago. The Vatican officially announced Saturday Cupich will succeed Cardinal George.
Chosen by Pope Francis, Cupich is now archbishop-elect in Chicago. He will be installed as archbishop during a special Mass on November 18. Until then, George remains cardinal, though without administrative power.
The Chicago Archdiocese scheduled a rare weekend announcement for Saturday morning. ABC7 will carry the announcement LIVE Saturday at 9:30 a.m.
This will be the first time in the history of the Chicago Archdiocese that a new leader is appointed while the former is still alive. All those before George died while serving.
George and Cupich have worked together in the past. Cupich is considered a moderate within the Catholic Church.
“I’ve been privileged to know the Cardinal upfront from the work I’ve that I’ve done from the Catholic Extension Society. He invited me some years ago to be a member of the board. So I could see that he is a man who cares deeply about the church and has the ability to care about the real needs of people,” Cupich said in an earlier interview with ABC7 Chicago.
Father John I. Jenkins, president of the University of Notre Dame released a statement Saturday morning.
“Having first met Bishop Blase 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’s transformative Papacy. We thank Cardinal George for his dedicated service, and we welcome Bishop Cupich to the great Archdiocese of Chicago,” Father Jenkins wrote.
In June at the Vatican, Pope Francis will grant the new Chicago archbishop his pallium, which is the scarf symbolizing his pastoral authority.
Cupich called “White Thunder” while working in South Dakota
Cupich, 65, has been bishop of Spokane for the past four years. Born in Omaha, he speaks Spanish and was given the nickname “White Thunder” by Native Americans when he served in South Dakota. At one point, he led the U.S. bishops’ committee handling the sexual abuse crisis.
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