It just keeps getting worse.
The Vatican is once again playing politics, this time with Pope Leo XIV making a not-so-subtle jab at President Donald Trump while cozying up to one of the most radical pro-abortion Democrats in Washington.
This comes after the Chicago Archdiocese, under Cardinal Blase Cupich, announced plans to honor Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) with a “Keep Hope Alive Lifetime Achievement Award” for his work on immigration.
Senator Durbin, the same pro-abortion Catholic who has been barred from Communion in Springfield, Illinois since 2004 for his unrepentant stance on abortion, is about to be celebrated by the Chicago Archdiocese.
The move has already triggered outrage across the Catholic community. At least ten U.S. bishops have spoken out against Cardinal Cupich’s decision, pointing out the obvious hypocrisy of honoring a politician who openly flouts Church teaching on the sanctity of life.
Reporters brought the controversy directly to Pope Leo XIV, who could have simply reaffirmed Catholic teaching on abortion. Instead, the Pope dodged specifics and delivered a thinly veiled swipe at President Trump and his supporters.
Reporter:
I wanted to ask one thing that has become a bit of a divisive subject in the U.S. right now, with Cardinal Blase Cupich giving an award to Senator Durbin. Some people of faith are having a hard time understanding this because he is pro—or rather, he’s for—legalized abortion. How would you help people of faith right now decipher that, feel about that, and how do you feel about that?Pope Leo XIV:
I’m not terribly familiar with the particular case. I think that it’s very important to look at the overall work that a senator has done during, if I’m not mistaken, 40 years of service in the United States Senate. I understand the difficulty and the tensions, but I think, as I myself have spoken in the past, it’s important to look at many issues that are related to the teaching of the Church.Someone who says, “I’m against abortion,” but says, “I’m in favor of the death penalty,” is not really pro-life. So someone who says, “I’m against abortion,” but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States, I don’t know if that’s pro-life.
These are very complex issues. I don’t know if anyone has all the truth on them, but I would ask, first and foremost, that there be greater respect for one another and that we search together—both as human beings, in that case as citizens of the state of Illinois, as well as Catholics—to say we need to really look closely at all of these ethical issues and to find the way forward as Church.
Church teaching on each one of those issues is very clear.
WATCH:
The Church preaches pro-life — yet praises a senator who backed abortion
Pope Leo XIV says the ‘overall work’ matters moreFaith or politics — which altar is The Vatican serving? pic.twitter.com/PkljqH15Vh
— Crazy flix (@Crazyflix94) October 1, 2025
