Cupich: Advocacy for immigrants ‘is, in its truest sense, an act of divine worship’

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Cupich: Advocacy for immigrants ‘is, in its truest sense, an act of divine worship’
Cardinal Blase Cupich called immigrant advocacy an 'act of divine worship' while urging immigration reform and condemning enforcement

 without distinguishing legal from illegal immigration.



Cardinal Blase Cupich
Scott Olson/Getty Images

Oct 5, 2026
(LifeSiteNews [slightly adapted - not all hyperlinks included from original]) — Heterodox Cardinal Blase Cupich told Catholics gathered for a “City of Welcome” event that advocacy for immigrants “belongs to every single disciple of Jesus, and it is, in its truest sense, an act of divine worship,” again collapsing legal and illegal immigration into a single moral claim.

The October 3 homily at the Archdiocese of Chicago celebration titled “Celebrating a City of Welcome, where Catholic Solidarity and the Journey of Migration Meet,” praised Chicago as a city “woven from the courageous journeys” of earlier immigrants, African American migrants, and more recent Latino and Asian communities.

Cupich then said the “spirit of welcome” has been “greatly diminished,” repeating the U.S. bishops’ November language about a “climate of fear,” “profiling,” “inhumane immigration enforcement,” “vilification of immigrants,” detention conditions, loss of legal status, and “the separation of children from their parents.” He said the bishops “oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people” and called “significant immigration reform” the “only road ahead.”

As in his earlier defenses of migrants against the Trump administration, Cupich made no distinction between legal and illegal immigrants. He identified Christ with “undocumented workers” who “are exploited because they lack legal protection,” and he treated the journey of a mother who “walks thousands of miles with her children” as an encounter with the Real Presence of Jesus Christ. Citing Matthew 25 and St. John Chrysostom, he pointed out that indifference to the stranger is a “fundamental breakdown of eucharistic logic,” and that serving immigrants is “eucharistic discipleship” rather than “mere social work.”

The cardinal’s practical demands followed the same line: legislators must pass “significant and common-sense immigration reform”; law enforcement must “humanely carry out their work,” with accountability for those who “wantonly violate human rights”; clergy must have access to detainees; and parishes should expand efforts to “feed, clothe, house, and educate those in need.” The homily closed by repeating that advocacy for immigrants is “an act of divine worship.”


Nations may regulate borders, not obliged to admit all

Cupich’s message failed to mention the heinous crimes committed by gang members and others who have entered the United States illegally or how those crimes violate the human dignity of citizens and of other migrants.

The heterodox cardinal also ignored the Church’s perennial teaching that political authority may regulate borders and that migrants are obliged to obey the just laws of the country that receives them.

Nations are not obliged to admit everyone who wishes to enter. Equating opposition to enforcement with worship obscures that distinction and conflates a prudential policy dispute into a test of Eucharistic faith.

The homily fits a pattern LifeSiteNews has reported since President Donald Trump returned to office. In February, Cupich was to celebrate an Ash Wednesday Mass and procession “in solidarity” with migrants in Melrose Park. Earlier that month, he thanked Chicago priests for their defense of migrants, writing that deportation policy had created “a great crisis,” that families were separated, children traumatized, and asylum seekers treated “inhumanely.”


Cupich compares immigration crisis to Holocaust

After last January’s tragic killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minnesota — for which it is possible to be appalled while still recognizing America’s immigration problem — Cupich compared the escalation between protesters and ICE with the events of World War II: “The Holocaust didn’t begin when they opened concentration camps. It began with words.”

In November 2025 the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued its first “Special Message” in over a decade to criticize what it called “indiscriminate mass deportation.” The Vatican under Popes Francis and Leo has likewise denounced efforts to curb mass immigration.

Pope Leo has said the faithful will be judged for how they “receive the foreigner,” and he has suggested that that supporting the purported “inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States” calls into question whether someone is pro-life. Cupich has said he often borrows that language.

Bishop Strickland charges pope, USCCB with indifference to crime by illegal immigrants
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.

“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.