The Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Blase Cupich, has defended in a statement the Nostra Aetate award that his archdiocese presented yesterday (Thursday, October 29), to financier Michael Sacks, who contributed $600,000 to an initiative to expand access to abortion in Illinois.
In the text, published on Monday the 26th on the archdiocese’s website and reported by LifeSiteNews, Cupich maintains that the conciliar declaration on non-Christian religions “offers a clear theological and ethical framework” for honoring and respecting non-Christians even when they hold theological, moral, or political positions contrary to Catholic teaching.
According to the same outlet, the statement does not mention abortion even once.
Sacks, president and CEO of GCM Grosvenor, received the award at the Seminary Salutes Rerum Novarum gala, through which Mundelein Seminary raises funds for the formation of future priests and which is presided over by Cupich and the rector, John Kartje.
The award, according to the archdiocese, recognizes members of non-Christian communities for their leadership, and in Sacks’s case, for his philanthropy in education, economic development, art, and culture.
As reported in September by Crain’s Chicago Business, Sacks contributed those $600,000 to a fund intended to offset federal cuts to reproductive health services in Illinois, among whose beneficiaries are Planned Parenthood of Illinois and the Chicago Abortion Fund.
He is a member of the board of the Obama Foundation and a prominent figure in the Democratic Party in Chicago.
In his statement, Cupich acknowledges that some have criticized a Catholic group for honoring a person who does not share the Church’s core beliefs, “the first of which is the divinity of Jesus Christ,” according to the quote reported by LifeSiteNews and translated by this editorial team, as are the following.
The cardinal responds that the award does not promote theological compromise or support for non-Catholic political positions, and that Nostra Aetate establishes principles that justify public respect, dialogue, and tribute to others even when there are significant disagreements.
He concludes that “dialogue cannot take place if respect depends on complete agreement on Church doctrine or policy.”
Critics reply that what is at issue is not Sacks’s Jewish faith, but his financial support for abortion.
LifeSiteNews maintains that the statement repeatedly alludes to the honoree’s Jewish identity and thereby shifts the focus away from abortion.
Mary FioRito, of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, described as “completely fallacious” the framing of objections as a rejection of Sacks’s faith, and recalled that what is being criticized is his defense and funding of abortion.
Mary Kate Zander, of Illinois Right to Life, stated that the archdiocese cannot credibly defend life while honoring a donor whose fortune has sustained abortion providers.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has established since 2004, in Catholics in Political Life, that Catholic institutions should not honor those who act against fundamental moral principles.
This is not the first time Cupich has faced controversy of this kind.
In September 2025, the archdiocese announced that it would award Democratic Senator Dick Durbin for his work on behalf of immigrants despite his record of support for abortion.
Several bishops, including Thomas Paprocki, Bishop of Springfield—the diocese to which Durbin belongs—and Salvatore Cordileone, asked Cupich to reconsider.
The cardinal then defended the tribute, but Durbin ultimately declined the award. This time the honoree is not a politician but a donor, and the cardinal has responded to the criticisms in writing three days before the gala.
Cupich invokes the Council to honor an abortion donor at a gala that raises funds to train priests, and his defense does not devote a single line to abortion.