Friday will mark one year since an Illinois man — Robert Francis Prevost — was elected Bishop of Rome. Pope Leo has been making headlines lately, because he’s been targeted by President Donald Trump over his statements denouncing the Iran war.
President Trump has criticized the pope on multiple occasions and even accused him of “catering to the radical left.”
Cardinal Blaise Cupich is the archbishop of Chicago. He is the senior leader of the Catholic Church in Illinois, where an estimated three million people are part of the faith tradition. He joined the 21st Show to discuss Pope Leo speaking up about global issues, criticism that the Catholic Church has become political, and how Catholic values have to reflect the protection of human dignity across the board.
Interview Highlights
On what it means to have an American pope from Chicago area
“Well, of course we’re quite proud of the fact that he hails from Chicago and is known to us, that he also speaks in an idiom of English that is familiar to our ears, and that we take great pride in the fact that Chicagoans say we produced a pope.”
On the Pope being “political”
“He’s not a political rival of anyone, but rather is someone who brings to the discussion of global events the eyes of prophetic witness to the gospel. So I think that it’s important to make sure that we properly understand how the Holy Father sees his role, and that he can’t be reduced to just another leader who has a political agenda. That’s not how he views the world, or how the church views the role of the papacy.”
On approaching global issues from a humanitarian perspective
“Well, I think that we want to make sure that issues that impact humanity don’t lose sight of the important principle of human dignity — that is, I think, lost sometimes when we begin to think of issues in a very narrow sense of what national gains would be, what the ability of one country over another can dominate because of military force. But there are other principles involved that have to enter into the discussion.”
On staying consistent with Catholic values
“You have to be consistent in your approach to defending human dignity, whether it’s the unborn or the person on death row — they all deserve that kind of respect. So I think sometimes when church leaders raise their voice, it makes people uncomfortable, but that discomfort comes from the fact that they’ve decided in some way to limit their understanding or their appreciation of the respect for human dignity to just one or two issues. And the Holy Father challenged that recently. He says you cannot consider yourself pro-life if you’re only for the life of the unborn and don’t say anything about the death penalty or migrants or the inhumane treatment of migrants.”