(ZENIT News / Chicago, 09.29.2025) – In an official statement, the Archdiocese of Chicago announced on September 22 that it will honour Senator Durbin with a lifetime achievement award, despite his staunch support for abortion rights and «same-sex marriage,» as well as policies that violate the Catholic Church’s religious freedom, even though he considers himself Catholic.
Dick Durbin has been a Senator since 1997. He has been the Senate’s Deputy Democratic Leader since 2005, the second-highest position in the Senate Democratic leadership, and the Senate Majority Whip since 2021. On April 23, he announced his retirement from political life as he will not seek reelection. He is an activist in the environmental movement, particularly in the protection of Antarctic wildlife.
The Archdiocese will organize the tribute, presided over by Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago and member of the Dicastery for Bishops in Rome. The ceremony to recognize the Senator Durbin will take place at Saint Ignatius College Prep, a Jesuit preparatory school. The Senator will be honoured for his work on behalf of immigrants and his support for immigration laws to protect undocumented foreigners. In his statement, Cardinal Cupich stated that Durbin has transferred to the Archdiocese of Chicago, where he was welcomed several years ago.
According to local media, the ceremony of the Archdiocese of Chicago will be held on November 3 at a benefit presided over by Cardinal Cupich.
Several American Bishops, led by Monsignor Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, called the decision «scandalous.» Of note is the ban on Durbin receiving the Eucharist in his home diocese of Springfield, the capital of the state of Illinois, since 2004, due to his pro-abortion voting history.
The Bishop of Springfield stated: «Honouring a politician who has actively worked to expand and consolidate abortion undermines the very idea of human dignity that this award seeks to extol.» Paprocki warned that this decision «causes confusion among the faithful» and contradicts the guidelines of the Archdiocese of Chicago, which prohibits granting honours to people with moral principles contrary to the teachings of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Also speaking out against this award was Monsignor Salvatore Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco, who invited «to ask Cardinal Cupich to reconsider giving Senator Durbin a lifetime achievement award […] given his long history of supporting legal abortion.» Cordileone emphasized the unity and doctrinal clarity necessary for Catholics to speak out firmly against «the grave evil of ending the lives of innocent children in the womb.»
In a statement published in the Catholic National Register on September 27, Archbishop Emeritus Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, said it is a «source of scandal» and a «pastoral dereliction.»
Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay, Wisconsin, rejected Cupich’s proposal to award Durbin, writing on X: “The plan of the Archdiocese of Chicago to give him a Catholic ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ is unsustainable. Works of justice and the protection of life are not mutually exclusive, but must be inclusive . . . Let us pray together and act consistently for life!”
Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, said in a September 23 post on social media X that he was «shocked and astonished»: «I pray for the good of the Church that this award will not be given to Senator Durbin and that the scandal it would likely cause to the faithful be avoided.»
Likewise, Bishop James Wall of Gallup, New Mexico, expressed his disapproval of Durbin’s tribute in Chicago by quoting St. John Paul II’s Encyclical Evangelium Vitae on the social networking site X on September 28.
The Archdiocese of Chicago did not initially respond to calls to cancel the award ceremony, but did provide an official confirmation of the event. On September 22, Cardinal Cupich defended his decision in an official statement from the Archdiocese: «I have remained faithful to the May 2021 instructions of the then Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, advising the Bishops to reach out and engage in dialogue with Catholic politicians within their jurisdictions . . . as a means of understanding the nature of their positions and their understanding of Catholic teaching.»
The Chicago Cardinal emphasized that Durbin would be honoured for his efforts to promote Catholic social teaching on immigration, care for the poor according to Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’ Letter, and world peace: «At the heart of a consistent ethic of life is the recognition that Catholic teaching on life and dignity cannot be reduced to a single issue, even an issue as important as abortion.»
The Cardinal also wrote of Durbin: «The recognition of his defense of immigrants at this time, when they are subject to terror and harm, is not something to be lamented, but a reflection that the Lord profoundly supports both immigrants who are in danger and those who work to protect them.»
