Blase J. Cupich

“Pope Francis tells us who he is by pointing to Caravaggio's St. Matthew: 'Here, this is me, a sinner on whom the Lord has turned his gaze.' He is telling us that he has experienced the same rush of speechless wonder and graced love Caravaggio depicts in his painting.”

“I think that education is a pathway out of poverty for many people. It was for our family.”

“The existence of slavery cast the shadow of hypocrisy over the otherwise noble proclamation of the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in our Declaration of Independence.”

“Collaborative governance needs to be more than calling on the advice and competence of others to make up for our episcopal shortcomings. Rather, governance involves seeking how God is revealing his work through others in the community.”

“It's important for people to give every leader the chance to step forward and look for ways to have dialogue.”

“Just as Cardinal Bernardin proposed that an of ethic of life be consistently applied to unite all the life issues, we need in our day to mine the church's social teaching on solidarity.”

“For me, the real goal is how do we make vibrant and vital faith communities that are sustainable for the long run.”

“I think that the Pope has trust in every bishop that is appointed.”

“We have always wanted to make sure that we start the conversation by saying that all people are of value and their lives should be respected and that we should respect them.”

“The church can challenge society, but society also challenges the church. That's good. We should be humble enough to be able to accept that.”

“People think sometimes there is a 'Catholic vote' because of one particular issue. This demeans who we are as a Catholic community. We should take the whole thing... We take everything.”

“The death penalty confronts us with a penetrating moral question: Can even the monstrous crimes of those who are condemned to death and are truly guilty of such crimes erase their sacred dignity as human beings and their intrinsic right to life?”

“The Second Amendment was passed in an era when organized police forces were few and citizen militias were useful in maintaining the peace.”

“There should be reluctance to make a national policy so inflexible that it fails to take into account the country's diversity.”

“I would say that every pope has had people within his administration who have had difficulties one way or another with his administration.”

“We have to believe in the mercy and grace of God to trigger conversion rather than the other way around: that you're only going to get the mercy if you have a conversion. The economy of salvation doesn't work that way.”

“Our people's faith is strong and sustains them even in times of challenge.”

“People should be called the way that they want to be called rather than us coming up with terms that maybe we're more comfortable with.”

“We have to become involved in the political process - if we don't like it, we can change it.”