October 14, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – Chicago Archbishop and Cardinal-elect Blase Cupich told an Italian newspaper that his support of Communion for the divorced and remarried is the same position as the pope’s, the bishops of Argentina, and Cardinal Christoph Schönborn.
“My position is the same as that of Pope Francis, who has indicated that the proper interpretation of ‘Amoris Laetitia’ was given by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn and then again by the bishops of Argentina, for which the Pope noted ‘no further interpretation is needed,’” Cupich said. “So if people want to know what I think, they should refer to those sources.”
In a letter the Vatican confirmed as authentic, Pope Francis affirmed the bishops of the Buenos Aires’s new pastoral guidelines allowing the divorced and remarried to receive Holy Communion. There is “no other interpretation” of the pope’s controversial exhortation Amoris Laetitia than that of the Buenos Aires bishops, Pope Francis wrote.
Schönborn claims that Amoris Laetitia legitimizes and adopts his approach of allowing the divorced and remarried to receive Communion in some circumstances. Pope Francis has deferred to the Austrian cardinal as the definitive source on how to interpret the exhortation.
Cupich’s record as a bishop is extremely liberal. He has stopped priests and seminarians from praying outside abortion facilities at 40 Days for Life, written that unemployment and hunger are just as appalling as the killing of millions of children in the womb, and said in contradiction with Catholic canon law that giving Communion to pro-abortion politicians can be a good thing. He once even locked Catholics out of their own parish during Holy Week to prevent Traditional Latin Masses from taking place; the church had to hold its Good Friday liturgies on the sidewalk.
As a cardinal, Cupich will be eligible for the papacy and able to vote in papal elections. Pope Francis also recently appointed Cupich to the Congregation for Bishops, giving him a prominent position in picking U.S. bishops.