Cardinal Blase Cupich

When the Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV was elected to lead the Roman Catholic Church in May 2025, it was inevitable that the world’s attention would turn to his hometown archdiocese and the bishop who oversees it. That bishop is Cardinal Blase Cupich, a Croatian American Midwesterner whom Pope Francis appointed in 2014 to take charge of the Chicago archdiocese. Two years later Francis elevated Cupich to the rank of cardinal. Cupich quickly became one of the most high-profile religious leaders in the United States. During Francis’s papacy (2013–25) it was said that Cupich served as the pontiff’s “eyes and ears” in the U.S. church. After Leo’s election many experts looked to Cupich’s ministry for clues to how the new American pope would shepherd the global church.

Background and education

Born in 1949 in Omaha, Nebraska, Cupich was one of nine children. His parents, Blase and Mary (née Mayhan) Cupich, were devout Catholics. His father was a mail carrier while his mother worked as a homemaker. The Cupichs attended a parish where mass was celebrated in Latin (the liturgical changes of the Second Vatican Council were yet to come) but the sermons were spoken in Croatian.

By his senior year of high school Cupich had decided to become a priest. He attended the College of St. Thomas (now the University of St. Thomas) in St. Paul, Minnesota, and earned a B.A. in philosophy in 1971. He then studied in Rome at the Pontifical North American College and the Pontifical Gregorian University, earning a baccalaureate in sacred theology in 1974 and an M.A. in theology in 1975. That same year he was ordained a priest. In 1979 Cupich earned his license in sacramental theology from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., followed by a doctorate from the same school in 1987. His dissertation was on Advent in the Roman tradition.

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Rise in the church hierarchy

Cupich began his pastoral career in his hometown, serving as a parish priest and a teacher in a parochial school from 1975 to 1978. For the next two decades he held various roles in Omaha, including with the archdiocese, and at several schools, including Creighton University in Omaha and the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, where he served as president and rector (1989–96). In the 1980s Cupich also served as secretary to the apostolic nunciature (papal ambassador’s office) in Washington, D.C. In 1998 Pope John Paul II made Cupich a bishop and appointed him to the diocese of Rapid City, South Dakota, where he served until 2010. From there Pope Benedict XVI appointed him bishop of Spokane, Washington, a role he held for four years.

Archbishop and cardinal of Chicago

Then, in 2014, it was on to Chicago, one of the country’s largest dioceses. Cupich had big shoes to fill, considering that he was following in the footsteps of John Cody, Joseph Bernardin, and Francis George, three former Chicago archbishops and cardinals with long and complex legacies. After Cupich’s appointment a colleague in Spokane told Chicago Catholic that Cupich was “well-versed in the needs of the universal church” and “not a traditionalist.”

In his first year as archbishop Cupich established himself as a moderate who was passionate about social justice and inclusiveness. He was a vocal supporter of strict gun control, and he advocated for the rights of workers and immigrants. In 2015 he participated in Pope Francis’s synod on the family in Rome. During the synod Cupich told the National Catholic Reporter that the church should seek more dialogue with divorced Catholics and LGBTQ people rather than preach “fixed doctrines” against divorce and homosexuality. “I think we have to make sure that we don’t pigeonhole one group as though they’re not part of the human family,” he said, “so there’s a different set of rules for them.”

In 2023, when the Vatican issued a document allowing for the blessing of same-sex couples under certain conditions, Cupich called it “a step forward.” Cupich has also expressed support for including women in more roles in the church, although he has not explicitly backed women’s ordination.

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In 2016 Pope Francis made Cupich a cardinal. His elevation qualified him to vote in the next conclave, which in 2025 elected the first American pope: the former Cardinal Robert Prevost. After the conclave Cupich released a statement commending his fellow cardinals on showing “a clear sign of unity” by choosing a successor to Francis relatively quickly (the conclave lasted less than two days). He also hinted at the kind of papacy Catholics could expect from the new pontiff, stating, “Pope Leo knows firsthand the needs of those at the margins and holds them close. We expect he will carry on the regard for the poor so associated with Pope Francis but will lead us and teach us in his own way.”

Influence, controversies, and stance on political issues

Both Francis and Leo selected several of Cupich’s deputies in the Chicago archdiocese to serve as bishops of other major American sees—a testament to Cupich’s influence in the Vatican. However, Cupich often attracted criticism from conservative Catholics in the United States, particularly on the issues of immigration and abortion. In 2021 he was among several American cardinals who signed a letter asking the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to suspend a vote on whether to bar pro-choice Catholic politicians from receiving the Eucharist at mass. (The issue has often come up in discussion of pro-choice Catholic Democrats such as John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi, and Joe Biden. Such criticism is less often made about Catholic politicians who support capital punishment, which the Catholic Church also condemns.) Although Cupich’s views on abortion align with the church’s pro-life stance, he voiced concern that such a vote would only divide American bishops.

Then in 2025 Cupich was harshly criticized for his decision to give Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, a pro-choice Catholic, a lifetime achievement award in recognition of the senator’s work on behalf of immigrants. In response to the uproar, the senator declined the award. For his part Cupich lamented the ongoing divisiveness in the U.S. church, stating that it has left many Catholics “politically homeless.” Asked to weigh in on the controversy, Pope Leo first stated that it was important to look at a senator’s full record (in Durbin’s case, more than 40 years of service in the U.S. Congress) as well as the “many issues that are related to what is the teaching of the church.” He added,

Someone who says that “I’m against abortion, but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants who are in the United States,” I don’t know if that’s pro-life.

Indeed, immigration continued to be a heated topic in the United States, especially among Catholics, and Cupich remained one of the most outspoken bishops on the issue. In April 2026 he appeared on 60 Minutes with Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington, D.C., and Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, to call for peace in Iran and humane immigration policy in the United States. Asked how they would respond to people who say, “I don’t want to hear politics from my priest,” Cupich’s answer suggested that church teaching sometimes demands otherwise. “I say fine,” he said. “I want to preach the Gospel.”

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