After controversy, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin has declined a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese in Chicago. The award was to be presented at the Diocese’s Keep Hope Alive event in November, with the decision coming from Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich. Cupich wanted to honor Durbin for his support of vulnerable immigrants along the US- Mexico border.

Durbin, however, turned out to be a controversial choice, due to his outspoken support for abortion. His views on abortion have kept him from taking the Eucharist in the Diocese of Springfield. Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield blasted the decision to honor Durbin. “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,” Paprocki said in a letter to The Pillar. “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.” Numerous bishops from other Dioceses also voiced their concern, including the Diocese of San Francisco, Green Bay, Fort Worth, and many others.

Pope Leo, however, refused to condemn Durbin’s nomination, while stating he knew little about the situation. “I think it’s important to look at the overall work that a senator has done during, if I’m not mistaken, in 40 years of service in the United States Senate,” said the Pope. “I understand the difficulty and the tensions. But I think as I myself have spoken in the past, it’s important to look at many issues that are related to the teachings 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 [illegal] 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.”

Despite saying that the controversy had surprised him, Durbin told NBC he had decided to drop out “because the reaction has been so controversial against the Cardinal who proposed it, and I see no point in going forward with that.” In a statement announcing Durbin’s withdrawal, Cupich remained firm in his support. “The tragedy of our current situation in the United States is that Catholics find themselves politically homeless. The policies of neither political party perfectly encapsulate the breadth of Catholic teaching,” he said. “Some would say that the [Catholic] 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.”