Pope Leo was defending Illinois Senator Dick Durbin when he questioned the premise that those who supported the Trump administration’s inhuman treatment of immigrants or the death penalty may not be pro-life.
Senator Durbin was nominated for a “lifetime achievement award” by a Chicago Cardinal, Blase Cupich, for his work in immigration advocacy, but several U.S. bishops criticized Durbin’s pro-choice on abortion stance, causing Durbin to withdraw from accepting the award. Cupich, a close adviser of Pope Francis, claims Durbin as a member of his Chicago Archdiocese.
Durbin has said often that he personally opposes abortion, but supports the rights for women to make their own reproductive choices.
Pope Leo said it was important to consider Durbin’s summary of 40 years of service and his overall record.
Church teaching forbids abortion but it also opposes capital punishment as “inadmissible” under all circumstances. U.S. bishops and the Vatican have strongly called for humane treatment of migrants, citing the Biblical command to “welcome the stranger.”
Karoline Leavitt, who was not wearing her standard cross necklace on Wednesday but prays regularly with her staff before press briefings, was asked about the Pope’s statement.
Yet the White House has repeatedly shown their disagreement with the Vatican’s vision.
VP JD sparred with the late Pope Francis over the administration’s hardline tactics, and has insisted that immigrants are causing American citizens to be delayed health care in emergency rooms: “Why do those people get health care benefits at hospitals paid for by American citizens?”
The Pope’s defense did not sway Durbin in his decision to reject the achievement award.
- Cardinal Cupich has criticized the politicization of abortion by U.S. bishops, who called for denying communion to Catholic politicians who supported abortion rights, including President Biden. Durbin had also been denied communion in his hometown diocese of Springfield by Bishop Thomas Paprocki.
- Following Durbin’s decline of the award, Paprocki thanked him, and said, “I ask that all Catholics continue to pray for our church, our country, and for the human dignity of all people to be respected in all stages of life including the unborn and immigrants.”