Blase Joseph Cupich ( ;Laurie Goodstein, "Pope Names Prelate With Inclusive Views as Chicago Archbishop," New York Times, September 20, 2014. born March 19, 1949) is an American Catholic prelate serving as Archbishop of Chicago since 2014. He was made a cardinal in 2016.
Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Cupich was ordained a priest in 1975. He was named Bishop of Rapid City by Pope John Paul II in 1998. Cupich was then named Bishop of Spokane by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010. After being chosen by Pope Francis as Archbishop of Chicago, Cupich was installed there in 2014. In 2016, he was made a member of the Congregation for Bishops. He was appointed to the Congregation for Catholic Education in 2017.
Early life and education Cupich was born on March 19, 1949, in Omaha, Nebraska, into a family of Croatian descent. He was the third of the nine children of his father, also named Blase Cupich, a United States Postal Service letter carrier who later chaired the Sarpy County commission (1977–1988), championed Meals on Wheels and worked for the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, and Mary () Cupich, a homemaker. His paternal grandfather Blase Cupich, born in Donji Andrijevci near Slavonski Brod, immigrated to the United States as a teenager; his maternal grandmother Barbara Bahun, born in near Varaždin, arrived in Nebraska in 1917, where she married Ivan Majhen from Karlovac, Cupich's grandfather. All four of his grandparents found jobs in the Omaha meat-packing industry.
After receiving his initial education from the Benedictine Sts. Peter and Paul Elementary School in Omaha, Cupich attended Saint John Vianney Minor Seminary in Elkhorn, Nebraska, and then Archbishop Ryan High School in Omaha, Nebraska. He studied at Saint John Vianney Seminary at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, from 1969, obtaining his Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy in 1971.
After receiving his undergraduate degree, Cupich went to Rome to reside at the seminary of the Pontifical North American College. He attended the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, earning a Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree in 1974 and a Master of Theology degree in 1975. In addition to Cupich, his class at the North American College included ten future American bishops and two future cardinals: James Harvey and Raymond Burke. Cupich speaks six languages, including English and Spanish.
Ordination and ministry Cupich was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Omaha at Saints Peter and Paul Church in Omaha by Archbishop Daniel E. Sheehan on August 16, 1975.
After his 1975 ordination, the archdiocese assigned Cupich as both associate pastor at St. Margaret Mary Parish and instructor at Paul VI High School in Omaha. He was moved in 1978 to serve as director of the archdiocesan Office for Divine Worship and as chair of the Commission on Youth from 1978 to 1981. Cupich completed his graduate studies at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., obtaining his licentiate there in 1979.
In 1980, Cupich worked as an instructor in the Continuing Education of Priests Program and Diaconate Formation at Creighton University in Omaha. He then transferred in 1981 to Washington to work as secretary of the nunciature to the United States, where he occasionally acted as spokesman for the mission. During this period, Cupich obtained his Doctorate of Sacred Theology in 1987 from Catholic University. His dissertation was entitled "Advent in the Roman Tradition: An Examination and Comparison of the Lectionary Readings as Hermeneutical Units in Three Periods".
Returning to Nebraska in 1987, the archdiocese assigned Cupich as pastor of St. Mary Parish in Bellevue from 1987. Two years later, he went to Columbus, Ohio, to serve as president-rector of the Pontifical College Josephinum. In 1996, after seven years in Columbus, Cupich came back to Nebraska, where he was appointed pastor of St. Robert Bellarmine Parish in Omaha in 1997.
Bishop of Rapid City On July 6, 1998, Cupich was appointed as the seventh bishop of Rapid City by Pope John Paul II. Cupich was installed and consecrated at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City by Archbishop Harry Flynn on September 21, 1998. His co-consecrators were Archbishops Elden Francis and Charles Chaput.
As bishop, Cupich banned children from receiving their first communion and confirmation in services using the Tridentine Mass. In 2002, Cupich prohibited a Traditional Mass community from celebrating the Paschal Triduum liturgies according to the 1962 form of the Roman Rite. He defended this move by saying, "We're just looking for an opportunity on an annual basis for us to all worship together, for one moment of unity as a Catholic church ... it seems the day the Lord died for us all would be a good day to do it. That's all that this is about."
When Cupich moved to Spokane, the next bishop of Rapid City lifted these bans.
Cupich served on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Committee for Young Adults during 2000 to 2003. During this period, the USCCB adopted its Dallas Charter, establishing procedures for handling accusation of priest misconduct. He served again on the USCCB's renamed Committee on Protection of Children and Young People from 2005 to 2006. Cupich became head of the committee in 2008.
Following the 2008 US presidential election, Cupich advised his fellow American bishops to find ways to work with the incoming Obama administration: "Keep in mind a prophecy of denunciation quickly wears thin, and it seems to me what we need is a prophecy of solidarity, with the community we serve and the nation that we live in."
Bishop of Spokane On June 30, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Cupich as bishop of Spokane. He was installed on September 3, 2010, in a ceremony at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington.
In 2011, Cupich discouraged priests and seminarians in his diocese from demonstrating in front of Planned Parenthood clinics or supporting 40 Days for Life, an anti-abortion movement. Cupich later clarified his position, saying that he would not forbid priests from praying outside the clinics. However, he also said that; "Decisions about abortion are not usually made in front of clinics – they’re made at 'kitchen tables and in living rooms and they frequently involve a sister, daughter, relative or friend who may have been pressured or abandoned by the man who fathered the child.In February 2011, a Philadelphia grand jury investigation found that the Archdiocese of Philadelphia had allowed 37 priests to remain in active ministry despite accusations of abuse or inappropriate behavior. Cupich commented in March 2011:
Cupich later called the events in Philadelphia "an anomaly", saying that the American bishops had implemented much of the Dallas Charter. Cupich then added: "If we want our people to trust us, we have to trust them. So we are doing our best to make sure that we are transparent with them." In June 2011, Cupich again pointed to the Dallas Charter, which he thought needed few modifications. He emphasized the need for proper implementation:
Over the course of three months in 2011, Cupich published "The New Roman Missal: A Time of Renewal", a historical overview on liturgical renewal to introduce the new English translation of the Roman Missal. He wrote favorably of moving from an to a direction of the priest in the mass; he lamented those who did not accept the changes of the post-Vatican II Roman Missal; he wrote favorably about receiving the eucharist under both species and mass in the vernacular, non-Western inculturation into the liturgy, lay participation in the liturgy as a litmus test of active participation, and the simplification of rubrics.
In April 2012, Cupich supported the decision of Gonzaga University to invite Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu to speak at its graduation ceremonies and receive an honorary degree. The Cardinal Newman Society and anti-abortion activists protested Tutu's appearance at Gonzaga.
Cupich in 2014 allowed Catholic Charities employees in the diocese to help people register for health care insurance under the 2010 Affordable Care Act, in contrast to most other bishops. He said:
Archbishop of Chicago
On September 20, 2014, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Cardinal George as archbishop of Chicago and named Cupich to succeed him. Cupich was installed there on November 18, 2014. Before his installation in Chicago, Cupich announced he would live in a suite of rooms at Holy Name Cathedral rather than in the archbishop's residence in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago.
Cupich announced a major reorganization of the archdiocese on April 30, 2015. Approximately 50 archdiocesan employees accepted early retirement packages offered by the archdiocese. He appointed the seminary rector, director of the metropolitan tribunal, and chancellor, while confirming the Reverend Ronald Hicks as vicar general and Betsy Bohlen, formerly the CFO, as chief operating officer. Cupich created a new Hispanic Council (Consejo), headquartered in a church in Cicero, Illinois, in a heavily Hispanic area. In March 2021 the archdiocese announced plans to combine 13 parishes into five clusters, to minister to regions south of Chicago.
Writing in the Chicago Tribune in August 2015, during the Planned Parenthood 2015 undercover videos controversy, Cupich reiterated Cardinal George's call for "our commitment as a nation to a consistent ethic of life". He wrote that "commerce in the remains of defenseless children" is "particularly repulsive" and that, "We should be no less appalled by the indifference toward the thousands of people who die daily for lack of decent medical care; who are denied rights by a broken immigration system and by racism; who suffer in hunger, joblessness and want; who pay the price of violence in gun-saturated neighborhoods; or who are executed by the state in the name of justice." Reverend Raymond J. de Souza, in the National Catholic Register, criticized what he claimed was Cupich's "inconsistent" practice of the "consistent life ethic", offered by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin in the mid-1980s, arguing that it "mainly serve[s] to downplay the urgency of the abortion question".
On December 27, 2021, following the issuing of the in July and the subsequent issuing of guidelines released by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in December, Cupich imposed restrictions on the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass in the archdiocese. He banned the usage of the Traditional Rite on the first Sunday of every month, Christmas, the Triduum, Easter Sunday, and Pentecost Sunday. Cupich was supportive of the for promoting a return to a unified, post-Vatican II Ordinary Form of the Mass.
In June 2022, the Vatican named Cupich to the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. On July 16, 2022, it was leaked that Cupich was planning on shutting down the parishes in Chicago operated by the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest which celebrates Mass according to the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal. Cupich was reportedly planning to revoke the ministry of the priest belonging to the institute to operate in the diocese starting on August 1, 2022. On August 1, 2022, the institute suspended the celebration of public Masses and sacraments at the Shrine of Christ the King Church, its headquarters. The decision is believed to have been caused by pressure applied by Cupich.
On August 19, 2024, Cupich delivered the opening invocation at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Some conservative Catholics and anti-abortion activists criticized Cupich for not addressing abortion in his invocation.