Blase Joseph Cupich was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on 19 March 1949. He studied philosophy at the College of Saint Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota, graduating in 1971, and theology at the Pontifical North American College and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He later earned a licentiate (1979) and a doctorate (1987) in sacramental theology at the Catholic University of America. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Omaha on 16 August 1975, and served as a parish priest, archdiocesan liturgy director, staff member at the apostolic nunciature in Washington, D.C., and president-rector of the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio (1989–1997).
Appointed Bishop of Rapid City, South Dakota, in 1998, he received episcopal ordination on 21 September of that year. On 30 June 2010 Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Bishop of Spokane, Washington. Pope Francis appointed him Metropolitan Archbishop of Chicago on 20 September 2014, and he began his ministry there on 18 November 2014. He chaired the U.S. bishops' Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People from 2008 to 2011.
Pope Francis created him a cardinal in the consistory of 19 November 2016, assigning him the titular church of San Bartolomeo all'Isola. He is a member of the Dicasteries for Bishops, for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, and for Culture and Education, and of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State. He participated as a cardinal elector in the 2025 conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV.
Consequential Quotes
I think if a person is removed from office the reason should be given why. There is no reason that should not be the case.
It was the victims who made this meeting. That's what was key about this whole thing. We're not going to get any progress here unless we listen to the victims.
I always say, if you put the child in the middle of the room, we'll get it right. That should be our focus.
We obviously have not been able to deal with this effectively on our own. So it is time to make sure we involve lay people. It's a turning point, and a good turning point.
We should not be able to allow people to possess and have access to bring into the streets weapons of war. Something has to change.
My hope would be that there would be a way in which we would be able to make sure that these weapons of war cannot be in the hands of people on a daily basis.
Major Works & Initiatives
Chairman, USCCB Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People
Chaired the U.S. bishops' child and youth protection committee from 2008 to 2011, per the Holy See biography; he had earlier chaired the National Catholic Educational Association board (2006–2008).
Renew My Church, Archdiocese of Chicago
Launched in 2016 as a multi-year archdiocesan planning and renewal process — outlined in his Chicago Catholic column 'Renew My Church: Dreaming Big about the Archdiocese of Chicago' — grouping parishes for consolidation and evangelisation decisions in the face of priest shortages and building needs (National Catholic Reporter, 5 February 2016).
Member of the Congregation (now Dicastery) for Bishops
Named to the Congregation for Bishops in 2016; the Holy See biography lists him as a member of the Dicasteries for Bishops, for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, and for Culture and Education, and of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State.
Co-organizer of the Vatican summit on the protection of minors
One of the organizers of Pope Francis's 21–24 February 2019 Vatican meeting on child protection, alongside Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Fr. Hans Zollner, where he proposed metropolitan-led investigation of bishops with lay involvement (National Catholic Reporter, 27 February 2019).
Controversies
The Viganò letter and the 'rabbit hole' remark (2018)
In August 2018 Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò published an 11-page testimony alleging cover-up of abuse by former cardinal Theodore McCarrick and claiming McCarrick had orchestrated Cupich's appointment to Chicago. Cupich released a statement detailing factual errors in Viganò's timeline about his appointment. He told the National Catholic Reporter on 27 August 2018 that it was appropriate for Pope Francis not to 'go into the weeds, down a rabbit hole of answering all of these things,' and in a separate NBC 5 interview the same day, reported by Catholic News Agency, he said the pope had 'a bigger agenda' and 'We're not going to go down a rabbit hole on this.' Critics read the remarks as dismissing the allegations. In a statement on 29 August 2018 Cupich said the edited NBC report created the false impression that his 'rabbit hole' comment was about sexual abuse, when, he said, it was about the letter's allegations, and that nothing could be further from the truth than the suggestion that he or the pope considered protecting children less important than other issues (National Catholic Reporter, 27 August 2018; Catholic News Agency, 28–29 August 2018; Archdiocese of Chicago statement, 29 August 2018).
Illinois attorney general's report on clergy abuse (2023)
On 23 May 2023 Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul published a report finding 451 Catholic clerics and religious brothers with substantiated allegations had abused at least 1,997 children across Illinois's six dioceses between 1950 and 2019, including 275 in the Archdiocese of Chicago; Catholic News Agency reported that the dioceses had previously publicly listed 103 names. Cupich responded in a statement the same day that the archdiocese had not studied the report in detail but had concerns about data that might be misunderstood or presented in ways that could be misleading, noting that the 451 figure covered all six dioceses and included religious-order priests and brothers, many of them already disclosed on diocesan websites (Catholic News Agency, 23 May 2023).
Proposed lifetime achievement award for Senator Dick Durbin (2025)
In September 2025 the Archdiocese of Chicago's immigration ministry, with Cupich, planned to present U.S. Senator Dick Durbin a Lifetime Achievement Award for his work on immigration at the November 'Keep Hope Alive' celebration. A number of U.S. bishops publicly objected, led by Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, who argued that Durbin's longstanding support for legal abortion disqualified him under the U.S. bishops' 2004 statement 'Catholics in Political Life' and archdiocesan policy. In a statement on 22 September 2025 Cupich said he was following the May 2021 instruction of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to dialogue with Catholic politicians, and cited the consistent ethic of life: Catholic teaching on life and dignity, he said, cannot be reduced to a single issue, even one as important as abortion. Pope Leo XIV, asked about the case on 30 September 2025, said he was 'not terribly familiar with the particular case' and asked for greater mutual respect in the debate. Durbin subsequently declined the award, as Cupich announced on 30 September 2025; Cupich said he was saddened by the news but respected the decision (OSV News via Catholic Review, September 2025; OSV News, 30 September–1 October 2025).
Sources
- Holy See Press Office — biography
- Wikipedia
- National Catholic Reporter — Cupich, Scicluna say Vatican should give reasons when a bishop is sacked, 27 February 2019
- National Catholic Reporter — Cupich urges accountability in fellow bishops, 27 August 2018
- Vatican News via Catholic Outlook — Cardinal Cupich on US shootings, July 2022
- Catholic News Agency — Illinois AG report says nearly 2,000 were victims of clergy sex abuse, 23 May 2023
- OSV News via Catholic Review — Four more bishops speak out against Sen. Durbin lifetime achievement award, 24 September 2025
- Archdiocese of Chicago — Statement of Cardinal Blase J. Cupich on Misleading NBC Chicago Report, 29 August 2018