CHICAGO (LifeSiteNews) — Chicago’s Cardinal Blase Cupich is reportedly prohibiting the public exposition of the Blessed Sacrament during a Eucharistic pilgrimage passing through his archdiocese next year.
As part of the 2024 Eucharistic congress organized by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), a Eucharistic pilgrimage is taking place, drawing American Catholics across the country to Indianapolis. Four main routes from the northern, southern, eastern, and western borders of the country have been made, one of which passes through the Archdiocese of Chicago.
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Cupich is reportedly blocking plans to have the Blessed Sacrament exposed while the pilgrims process through his diocese, according to a report by The Pillar. Writing April 14, The Pillar stated:
A source with knowledge of the pilgrimage planning said that when pilgrims traverse through Chicago in the summer of 2024, the archdiocese will conduct a Mass at Holy Name Cathedral, followed by a Eucharistic procession led by Cardinal Cupich — but that the Eucharist will otherwise be expected to be reserved as pilgrims travel.
According to The Pillar’s source — described as a senior Church official — Cupich appeared to only grudgingly allow the pilgrimage in his archdiocese at all.
“He told them they could go through Chicago, but they couldn’t expose the Blessed Sacrament while they were walking,” stated the source. “That seemed to be the compromise that they got about coming at all.”
The report further cited clergy close to the pilgrimage who called Cupich “opposed” to the Eucharistic pilgrimage. “You’ve got to understand, he’s reluctant to have this whole affair parading down the middle of his diocese,” said the official.
On the national journey the walking pilgrimages will be accompanied by the presence of the Blessed Sacrament and a team of priests. Bishop Andrew Cozzens, who chairs the Eucharistic Congress and the USCCB Eucharistic Revival project, told The Pillar last year that the pilgrimage teams will coordinate with the dioceses they pass through to stage processions through the cities en route, “with the canopy and cross and servers and people singing hymns and praying and things like that.”
READ: Abp. Viganò: Catholics have ‘sacred and urgent duty’ to resist Cdl. Cupich’s Latin Mass crackdown
For the longer sections between cities the walking pilgrimage will not process with the Eucharist exposed so solemnly, but rather will have “a simple walking procession — a priest or a deacon carrying the Blessed Sacrament and a simple monstrance, but without a canopy and people walking prayerfully.”
Another alternative is using a specially built electric car, with large windows designed to enable easy viewing of the monstrance within. Two people would be inside the vehicle in adoration while it proceeds at a walking pace.
For the longer sections through harsher terrain, such as in the desert, the Eucharistic pilgrimage plans to either repose the Blessed Sacrament or “prayerfully carry it in a van while we’re going across the larger miles,” according to Cozzens. This option, said Cozzens, was to be reserved for the areas of “hundreds of miles” without any people around.
While such a plan was meant to be reserved for the deserted areas, it now looks likely to be employed in Chicago also, with The Pillar reporting that archdiocesan officials had weighed in to stipulate that the Blessed Sacrament would be reposed while the pilgrimage traverses the archdiocese.
READ: Cdl. Cupich essentially turns the Blessed Sacrament into a magical amulet
LifeSiteNews contacted the pilgrimage organizers about the report, who declined to answer the specific question about whether Cupich had restricted the public exposition. Tim Glemkowski, executive director of the National Eucharistic Congress, stated the the pilgrimage team was “working in close collaboration with staff in each of the 64 dioceses the Pilgrimage route will pass in May, June, and July of 2024 en route to the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis.”
Glemkowski continued:
Every segment of the Pilgrimage will be a distinct experience of each local diocese that will highlight the holy sites, cultural experiences, and Eucharistic life of that local church. Each diocese is creatively engaged in the planning process to allow a unique experience of the Pilgrimage throughout all four pilgrim routes. The Pilgrimage will be a powerful, once-in-a-lifetime witness of how Jesus Christ comes close to us and invites all to encounter him in the Eucharist. We could not be more excited to be moving forward with each of our diocesan partners in the planning and execution of this incredible opportunity for our Church in the U.S.
Glemkowski gave some pubic praise for Cupich, however, and added that “the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage is a wonderful opportunity to overcome division in the Church and highlight our unity through the Eucharist and this Revival. Our team has been extremely pleased and grateful for our ongoing relationship with the Archdiocese of Chicago and for the support of Cardinal Cupich.”
The Archdiocese of Chicago did not respond to a request for comment on the matter and has yet to issue any official statement on the report. As such, there is no official reason for Cupich’s reported restrictions on Eucharistic exposition.
However, his five-article series on the Eucharist from 2022 presents an insight into his opinion of Eucharistic adoration. Cupich praised the “full, active and conscious participation” of Catholics in the Novus Ordo Mass, before stating:
As one bishop reminded me, the Second Vatican Council taught that the eucharistic celebration, not the sacred host in the monstrance, is the source and summit of Christian life. In fact, the rites of the church insist that adoration of the Blessed Sacrament must lead to and draw from the celebration of the Eucharist in the Mass … The effort we put into liturgical renewal according to the council is what God wants.
The Pillar also wrote that sources close to the USCCB claimed that Cupich believed the emphasis on Eucharistic adoration as seen in the Eucharistic Revival might “distort” Catholic doctrine.