Catholics need to know the truth: Being an accessory to abortion is evil

Following controversy over Cardinal Blase Cupich's announcement of a lifetime achievement award for pro-abortion U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) for his legislative work regarding immigration, Durbin now says he will not accept the award. Cupich said he was "saddened" by Durbin's decision, and Pope Leo XIV also shared his opinion.

But there can be no confusion that while the lives and well-being of immigrants matter, preborn babies are human beings who are being mercilessly poisoned, dismembered, and lethally injected every single day.

Key Takeaways:

• Cardinal Blase Cupich announced in September that he would give Senator Dick Durbin a lifetime achievement award for his work creating legislation related to immigration.

• Following that announcement, Catholic bishops and lay people spoke out about the 'scandal' such an award would cause because Durbin is pro-abortion and has voted against protecting preborn children from abortion consistently for decades.

• In 2018, Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Springfield Diocese in Illinois barred Durbin from receiving Communion for his abortion support. However, Durbin has a second home in Cardinal Cupich's diocese.

• Due to the controversy over the award, Durbin has declined it, which 'saddened' Cupich.

• Church teaching on both immigration and abortion is clear, said Pope Leo XIV, who also said we must "respect" one another. Catholics, including Cardinal Cupich, must respect Durbin enough to be truthful about his need to repent for his support for abortion.

The Backstory:

In September, Cardinal Cupich announced that the Archdiocese of Chicago's Office of Human Dignity and Solidarity Immigration Ministry would present a lifetime achievement award to Durbin, despite his pro-abortion efforts in the Senate. The award was to be part of the Keep Hope Alive Benefit 2025, hosted by Cardinal Cupich at St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago in November.

Cardinal Cupich defended the choice to award Durbin based on his efforts to help immigrants through legislation, including as the original author of the Dream Act, which provided a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.

But Durbin has been so strongly pro-abortion that his own bishop barred him from receiving the Eucharist. He has voted against multiple pro-life measures in the Senate, including...

• a ban on the violent D&X ('partial-birth') abortion procedure.

• protections for children old enough to feel pain in the womb.

• requiring life-saving care for babies who survive abortions.

The news of the award led to significant backlash from Catholic bishops, including Durbin's own — Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois. Paprocki told The Pillar:

"I was shocked to learn that the Archdiocese of Chicago plans to honor Senator Richard Durbin with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Given Senator Durbin’s long and consistent record of supporting legal abortion — including opposing legislation to protect children who survive failed abortions — this decision risks causing grave scandal, confusing the faithful about the Church’s unequivocal teaching on the sanctity of human life.

Honoring a public figure who has actively worked to expand and entrench the right to end innocent human life in the womb undermines the very concept of human dignity and solidarity that the award purports to uphold."

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The Details:

Following the backlash, Durbin announced this week that he will not accept the award.

"Senator Durbin today informed me that he has decided not to receive an award at our Keep Hope Alive celebration," Cardinal Cupich said in a statement on Monday. "While I am saddened by this news, I respect his decision. But I want to make clear that the decision to present him an award was specifically in recognition of his singular contribution to immigration reform and his unwavering support of immigrants, which is so needed in our day."

Pope Leo XIV, also from Illinois, shared his thoughts on the situation when responding to a question from EWTN News:

"I think that it is very important to look at the overall work that this 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 has spoken to pass, it’s important to look at many issues that are related to what is 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 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; so they're very complex issues.

I don't know if anyone has all the truth on them, but I would ask first and foremost that there'd be greater respect for one another, and that we search together both as human beings and, in that case as American citizens or citizens of the state of Illinois, as well as Catholics to say we need to, you know, really look closely at all of these ethical issues and to find the way forward as a Church.

Church teaching on each one of those issues is very clear."

Catholic Sat

@CatholicSat

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Pope Leo XIV weighs in on Cardinal Cupich’s decision to honor pro-abortion Sen Dick Durbin, saying: “I think that is very important to look at the overall work that this Senator has done during, if I'm not mistaken, 40 years of service in the United States Senate.  I understand

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8:44 PM · Sep 30, 2025

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What the Church says about immigration

According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, there are three basic Catholic principles on immigration:

• "People have the right to migrate to sustain their lives and the lives of their families."

• "A country has the right to regulate its borders and to control immigration."

• "A country must regulate its borders with justice and mercy."

What the Church says about abortion

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

"Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law" (No. 2271). 

Abortion Doctors Share How The Most Common Abortion Procedures Take Place

Commentary:

The controversy over awarding Durbin for his good works helping immigrants is not because of his work helping immigrants, which the Catholic Church supports within reason.

The controversy exists over the fact that Durbin advocates for the brutal murders of an entire innocent group of people, yet was to be given lifetime achievement award from the Catholic Church.

Cardinal Cupich wrote:

"Some would say that the Church should never honor a political leader if he pursues policies diametrically opposed to critical elements of Catholic social teaching.

But the tragic reality in our nation today is that there are essentially no Catholic public officials who consistently pursue the essential elements of Catholic social teaching because our party system will not permit them to do so.

Total condemnation is not the way forward, for it shuts down discussion. But praise and encouragement can open it up, by asking their recipients to consider how to extend their good work to other areas and issues.

More broadly, a positive approach can keep alive the hope that it is worth talking to one another — and collaborating with one another — to promote the common good. No one wants to engage with someone who treats them as a thoroughgoing moral threat to the community. But people will engage with, and may even learn from, those who recognize them as making some contribution to a common endeavor."

There is value in Cardinal Cupich's words, but there is also value in holding Catholics to a standard.

Lila Rose

@LilaGraceRose

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This is shameful. The blood of innocent children cries out.

LifeNews.com

@LifeNewsHQ

Cardinal Blase Cupich is defending giving an award to radically pro-abortion Senator Dick Durbin. In Cupich’s mind, Durbin has been good enough on immigration to excuse voting for killing 66 million babies in abortions. Tell @CardinalBCupich to rescind this award immediately!

11:54 PM · Sep 23, 2025

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Based on Pope Leo's own words, one cannot be pro-life if he or she advocates for the humane treatment of immigrants but not for the humane treatment of innocent children created by God.

It isn't even that Durbin does nothing to protect preborn children and turns a blind eye to their violent killings; it's that he works purposefully to ensure they are not protected, that they are brutally killed for convenience, and even left to die after surviving an abortion attempt.

With immigration, there are debates and conversations to be had within the Church and the government regarding the best ways to help these human beings. The debate around immigration is not about whether to kill them or let them die, and Durbin's Catholicism should influence how he creates policies regarding this issue.

The abortion debate, however, is black and white. It's about whether it's morally acceptable to kill preborn human beings (or to assist in their killing in any way) or not.

The Bottom Line:

Catholics do not believe that Durbin is morally wrong to want to help immigrants. As Pope Leo said, we need "greater respect for one another." That respect begins by respecting the most vulnerable people in society — the preborn, who are the only innocent people in the U.S. whose direct murders are legal and even celebrated.

Catholics, including Cardinal Cupich, must also respect and love Durbin enough to be truthful about his need to repent for his support for abortion and his need to begin working to protect every human life. We can hope that behind closed doors, he already has.