Archbishop of Chicago
Cardinal Blase Joseph Cupich, Metropolitan Archbishop of Chicago, United States of America, was born in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.A., on 19 March 1949. After attending the customary primary and secondary schools, he attended the College of Saint Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 1971. From 1971 to 1975 he was student at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, and studied theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University. In 1979 he obtained a licentiate and in 1987 a doctorate in sacramental theology at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He was ordained a priest on 16 August 1975 for the archdiocese of Omaha. After priestly ordination he held the following positions: vice-pastor of the Saint Margaret Mary Parish and teacher at the Paul VI High School in Omaha (1975-1978); director of the archdiocesan liturgical office (1978-1981); local co-worker at the apostolic nunciature in Washington, D.C. (1981-1987); pastor of the Saint Mary Parish in Bellevue (1987-1989); president / rector of the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio (1989-1997); pastor of the Saint Robert Bellarmine Parish in Omaha (1997-1998). Appointed bishop of Rapid City, South Dakota, on 7 J3uly 1998, he received episcopal ordination on the following 21 September. On 30 June 2010 he was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as bishop of Spokane, Washington, and took canonical possession of the diocese the following 3 September. On 20 September 2014, Pope Francis appointed him as metropolitan archbishop of Chicago, where he began his ministry on 18 November of the same year. In October 2015 he participated, by papal appointment, to the 14th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the theme: The vocation and the mission of the family in the Church and in the contemporary world. He was chairman of the USCCB Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People (2008-2011) and of the National Catholic Educational Association Board (from 2006-2008) and is member of numerous committees of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of the United States of America. He is a member of the Congregation for Bishops.