Cardinal Cupich was silent on Catholic teaching on life issues and abortion during his invocation at the Democratic National Convention, at which Planned Parenthood is offering free abortions.
CHICAGO (LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal Blase Cupich remained notably silent on Catholic teaching on life issues and abortion during his invocation at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, at which Planned Parenthood is offering free abortions and vasectomies.
Cupich’s prayer invocation was delivered to the assembled participants at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) on August 19, in which he notably avoided mentioning Jesus Christ – a stark contrast to the invocation given by Archbishop Jerome Listecki at the Republican National Convention last month.
“We praise you, O God of all creation,” began Cupich. “Quicken in us a resolve to protect your handiwork. You are the source of every blessing that graces our lives and our nation.”
The Chicago cardinal’s invocation to start the first evening session of the DNC highlighted themes of “unity,” “peace,” and the “sacred call of citizenship.”
“We are a nation composed of every people and culture, united not by ties of blood, but by the profound aspirations of life, freedom, justice, and unbound hope,” he said. “These aspirations are why our forebears saw America as a beacon of hope. And, with your steady guidance, Lord, may we remain so today.”
Cupich’s invocation also contained calls for America to be “a builder of peace in our wounded world with the courage to imagine and pursue a loving future together.”
He also invoked divine aid in “taking up our responsibility to forge this new chapter of our nation’s history. Let it be rooted in the recognition that for us, as for every generation, unity triumphing over division is what advances human dignity and liberty.”
Cupich’s address was notable for its silence on certain issues, especially pertaining to Catholic morality. Democrat presidential hopeful Kamala Harris has made no secret about her prominent support for abortion, and abortion giant Planned Parenthood is also offering free abortions and vasectomies at the DNC.
READ: ‘Party of death’: Democrats’ convention includes free abortions and vasectomies
However, Cupich did not mention pro-life concerns. Instead, he prayed that “this new chapter of our nation’s history be filled with overwhelming hope, a hope that refuses to narrow our national vision, but rather, as Pope Francis has said, ‘to dream dreams and see visions’ of what by your grace our world can become.”
The 75-year-old cardinal’s invocation was roundly criticized by numerous Catholics online.
Cardinal Cupich gave the invocation at the Democratic National Convention as medical vans arrive for free abortions and vasectomies as the DNC pushes the most anti-Catholic, anti-life agenda in history. It says a lot about this guy, the Pope’s Cardinal in America.
— Steve Ray (@JerusalemJones) August 20, 2024
“No mention of life… or of the free vasectomies in the parking lot,” quipped EWTN host Raymond Arroyo. “But there was something about ‘unity triumphing over division is what leads to human dignity and liberty.’ Tell that to the Chinese or the North Koreans.”
Chicago’s Cardinal Blase Cupich prays invocation on the first night of the Democratic National Convention.
— Raymond Arroyo (@RaymondArroyo) August 20, 2024
Tyler, Texas’ emeritus Bishop Joseph Strickland commented that “We will never have peace until we return to God and respect life.”
“The cardinal’s presence there,” he said in reference to the DNC, “is a missed opportunity to call the Democratic Party back from the abyss.”
Pro-life activist Lila Rose noted that, according to Planned Parenthood staff, “ten free abortions” were carried out “on the first day of the DNC.” “There are no words to express the sheer horror,” Rose wrote.
Crisis Magazine Editor-in-Chief Eric Sammons did not object to Cupich’s presence at the DNC, unlike other critics, but did highlight how Cupich was silent on Christ: “it is scandalous that he refused to say the name of Jesus – the named by which we are saved – in his prayer.”
Former U.S. Nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò attested that “the scandalous endorsements of Blase Cupich and the heretical ultra-progressive Jesuits in favor of Harris and Walz and the radical Left woke agenda confirm the blood pact between the globalist Deep State and the Bergoglian Deep Church.”
Support for Cupich’s speech among Catholics has so far not been widely forthcoming.
