CHICAGO (LifeSiteNews) — Heterodox Cardinal Blase Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago, was to serve as the main celebrant for a special outdoor Ash Wednesday Mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish followed by a procession in solidarity with migrants through the Melrose Park neighborhood this evening.
The February 18 Ash Wednesday Mass and procession, organized by the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership (CSPL) and the Scalabrinian Missionaries, will serve as “a moment of prayer, encounter, and solidarity” with local immigrants, per the official flyer. This special liturgy and procession will take place just days after a federal judge ordered that Chicago priests will be allowed to enter the Broadview Processing Center for Ash Wednesday.
Several local Catholic priests had previously been denied access to this ICE facility and plan to attempt to enter again after the court order to distribute Holy Communion and ashes as well as to provide “pastoral care.”
Previewed tonight on @maddow, Cardinal Cupich to celebrate Ash Wednesday Mass and Procession in solidarity with immigrants; the move comes just days after a judge ruled that priests and ministers must be allowed into Broadview Detention Center to minister to migrants. Official… pic.twitter.com/r5RPdGW30h
— Rich Raho (@RichRaho) February 17, 2026
“The collective voices and faithful witness of Catholics and Christians in Chicago and across the country are making an impact,” Father Dan Hartnett, SJ, member of the CSPL Clergy Council, said of the planned Mass and procession. “As Lent begins, we pray this ruling restores religious freedom for those detained and moves our country closer to justice in honoring the dignity of all migrants.”
Here, the Jesuit priest notably doesn’t make any distinction between legal and illegal immigrants. And while it’s true that all Catholics, including illegal immigrants, should have access to the sacraments, it’s worth noting that when Chicago clergy had previously attempted, in what has been described as a “political stunt,” to enter the facility with the Eucharist without making previous arrangements, as required.
Indeed, as reported by LifeSiteNews, Cupich, the celebrant of the planned Mass and main presider of the procession, has a long history of defending illegal immigration while contradicting Church teaching, including several times since President Donald Trump returned to office last year.
READ: Cardinals Tobin, Cupich, other bishops sound off about Minnesota while ignoring doctrinal abuses
Earlier this month, Cupich wrote a letter to all the priests of the Archdiocese of Chicago, thanking them for their defense of migrants against the Trump administration’s policies.
“This policy of deportation has created a great crisis. Families are separated. Children are traumatized. Asylum seekers are treated inhumanely and with little respect for their human dignity,” he wrote.
Cupich’s message failed to mention the issue of the heinous crimes committed by MS-13 gang members and others entering the United States illegally, and how they are violating the human dignity of its citizens. The bishops also omitted any mention of the fact that deportation numbers under Trump are not as “record-breaking” as they are made out to be by the media in comparison to years past.
In January during an appearance on The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle, Cupich compared the escalation between protesters and ICE in Minnesota over the enforcement of immigration laws with the events of World War II.
“The Holocaust didn’t begin when they opened concentration camps. It began with words, and I think that we have to keep that in mind and learn from history that words do matter,” the cardinal said.
Cupich is hardly the only bishop who has attacked Trump’s immigration policies in recent months. In November 2025, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued its first “Special Message” in over a decade to criticize what they describe as “indiscriminate mass deportation” under this administration.
READ: US bishops denounce Trump’s deportations in first ‘Special Message’ in over a decade
The Vatican under both Pope Francis and Pope Leo has also repeatedly denounced his administration’s attempts to curb mass immigration. Pope Leo has repeatedly said that the faithful will be judged for how they “receive the foreigner,” and even falsely suggested that supporting the purported “inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States” under Trump is the same as supporting abortion.
Other bishops, such as Bishop Joseph Strickland, have called out the majority of U.S. bishops and the Vatican for disregarding the crimes of illegal aliens.
READ: Bishop Strickland denounces Pope Leo, bishops for scandalizing the faithful
“You harm the little ones when you promote lawlessness and turn a blind eye to the rapes, the murders and the attacks of nefarious criminals who waltz across open borders,” the bishop said.
“Some of the little ones are caught up in these mass migrations and trampled upon as they seek a better life. Some of the little ones find their homes and towns invaded as shepherds say ‘we must welcome the stranger,’ and then allow marauders and criminals free rein,” he added.