By: Betsy Carreño and Bianca Dinkha
Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, recently spoke at Dominican on “The Conclave, Pope Leo XIV and the future of the Catholic Church.” He focused on important topics regarding immigration, poverty, the environment, and Pope Leo XIV’s leadership.
Cupich has served as Archbishop of Chicago since 2014 and became Cardinal in 2016. After his visit at Dominican, he has since been appointed to the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State by Pope Leo, making him the only member of the committee not based in Rome.
Cupich holds strong beliefs closely aligned with social justice and an inclusive ministry. He advocates for immigrants, LGBTQ+ Catholics, and encourages women having more leadership roles in the church.
“There is a new direction that is given to the church, and I believe Pope Leo is going to continue in that vein,” he said. “But Francis said, in the pre conclave before he was elected, that Jesus many times was inside the church, knocking on the door to get out and he opened that door so that the church would be a field hospital.”
When talking about the process during the Conclave, Cupich holds that there was a specific description of who the next pope would be. Having pastoral experience, missionary experience, being multilingual (in specific but not limited to Italian, English, and Spanish), exposed to multiple cultures, and knew how to navigate within the Vatican were some of the key characteristics that they were looking for in the next pope.
Cupich was quick to correct that the decision of looking for the next pope didn’t not mean a replacement, “The church never elects a replacement, we always elect a successor.”
Additionally, Cupich expressed the concern Pope Leo XIV has with social justice topics such as immigration, and poverty.
“He asks us to make clear to people that the church surely respects the right obligation of the state to protect its borders and the people of the state. But he’s also asked us to point out that we cannot sacrifice human dignity in doing that… The dignity of being parents so that they’re not dragged out in front of their children in handcuffs and thrown to the ground” said Cupich
As for poverty, Cupich explained that, “He says that the poor are the flesh of the Lord, the flesh of the Lord in our midst, and also that the Lord has some need to offer for us, because they can not be agents of their own future. They’re not just recipients, they’re contributors, and they have something to offer us.”
Cupich also explained how Pope Leo XIV has made a call for everyone to take care of the environment. A new project briefly mentioned consists of using acres to grow different types of produce. The produce will be consumed at a new, yet unnamed restaurant, limiting the amount of waste that is produced. Cupich also noted that this is being led by Chicagoans, where Pope Leo XIV is from.
As for Cupich’s take on Pope Leo XIV leadership, he expresses that, “The other aspect that we were going to see some emphasis on is his emphasis on structural problems that the world faces, particularly with regard to poverty… I think the only thing that is going to bring us back and make sure that we look at whether the structure causes power that keeps people down, that do not allow them to advance worship as they should.”
After Cupich finished speaking, the room was opened for questions. Cupich ended the conversation with a sense of appreciativeness, “I feel so very proud that Chicago was able to produce a pope.”
