Bishop Awards Billionaire Who Donated $1.1Million To Kill Babies

One of America’s most powerful Catholic leaders will bestow an award upon a radical, pro-abortion Jewish billionaire who has financed the murder of hundreds of preborn children.

Cardinal Blaise Cupich, the current archbishop of Chicago, defended the Archdiocese of Chicago’s decision to honor Jewish billionaire Michael Sacks at the Rerum Novarum Awards Dinner, benefiting Mundelein Seminary, on Oct. 29. He will be gifted the Nostra Aetate award during the dinner’s honoring ceremony. “Nostra Aetate” is a Vatican II document on Catholic relations with non-Christian religions.

The Sacks Family Foundation, of which Michael Sacks is president and treasurer, gave $500,000 to Planned Parenthood of Illinois in 2022, the same year the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, raising obvious problems considering the Catholic church’s clear teaching on the grave evil of abortion.

Sacks also gave $600,000 to the Prairie State Access Fund, which The Pillar reports was intended to “offset abortion providers’ loss of federal funding — providers including Planned Parenthood.” Fox News reports the fund was “established in partnership with the administration of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to support abortion access in the state.”

The One Big Beautiful Bill, signed into law by President Donald J. Trump, defunded abortion providers of federal funding for one year. In 2023, 72,143 preborn children were murdered by abortion in the Land of Lincoln — a 28 percent increase from 2022 — thanks in no small part to Sacks’ generosity. At around $600 each, which Planned Parenthood says is the cost of a first trimester, in-clinic abortion, Sacks’ $1.1 million pro-abortion dollars could have financed the killing of around 1,833 precious children.

Apparently, that’s of no great concern for the 77-year-old Catholic cardinal, who issued a statement defending Sacks’ “leadership,” “generosity and talent,” and touting “the gifts he brings to society,” while dismissing Sacks’ pro-abortion contributions as a mere “political dispute” since Sacks happens to be “at odds” with the church’s moral teachings. Strangely, he criticized “antisemitism” as the source of criticism over the award.

“Refusing to honor or engage with Jews solely because they hold conflicting religious or political positions can risk mimicking historic patterns of antisemitism through exclusion and bigotry, which, frighteningly, is on the rise,” the cardinal stated, concocting the reddest of red herrings.

Respecting individuals’ personal conscience and religious convictions is one thing. Awarding an individual bankrolling the murder of children and thanking him for his “generosity” is a wholly different matter.

Let’s make this clear: Many faithful Catholics and Protestants are rightly outraged by the cardinal’s decision to give Sacks the Nostra Aetate Award, not because he is Jewish, but because he has funded the killing of the innocent, which the Catholic Church teaches is a grave evil. The catechism of the Catholic church states: “Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable.”

In fact, the church “attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life” to make clear “the gravity of the crime committed” and “the irreparable harm done to the innocent who is put to death.” One wonders if excommunication could result in “social ostracization?”

In its document “Catholics in Political Life,” the U.S. bishops have taught Catholics “should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles,” and those individuals should not be given “awards, honors or platforms.” Ironically, the document credits Francis Cardinal George, the former archbishop of Chicago, with its development and creation.

Kelsey Reinhardt, president and CEO of Catholic Vote, said in a statement to Fox News, “We urge Cardinal Cupich to reconsider this honor. The pre-born babies and the faithful who support them cry out once again.”

Just one year ago, the Archdiocese of Chicago also attempted to award U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, a rabidly pro-abortion politician, with a “lifetime achievement award.” After the backlash that ensued, the senator declined.

With awards like these being handed out left and right to individuals who disregard the church’s teaching on the preeminent social evil of our time, one can’t help but wonder whether Cardinal Cupich really cares much about protecting human life. The cardinal may have forgotten that “Nostra Aetate” also teaches, “The Church has always held … Christ underwent His passion and death freely, because of the sins of men and out of infinite love, in order that all may reach salvation.”

Does giving a pro-abortion donor an award and thanking him for his “leadership” help him reach salvation? I think that answer is clear. For Sacks, repentance is in order. Not recognition.

“Nostra Aetate” recognizes what is good and true in other religions. But it by no means disregards as unimportant the vast and significant differences between them. It also does not blur the lines between good and evil, nor recognize and award the “generosity” and “gifts” of those who commit grave evils, as Cardinal Cupich has done.

Just days ago, many were angered when 12 Catholic bishops prayed with President Trump in the Oval Office. What if they had given him an award, thanking him for his leadership and generosity? He did help defund Planned Parenthood and save human lives, after all. For some reason, I doubt Cardinal Cupich would approve.

At 77-years-old, Cardinal Cupich is past the usual retirement age for Catholic bishops. Church law requires bishops submit their resignation to the pope upon turning aged 75. His decision to give an award to Sacks, a billionaire with blood on his hands, thus scandalizing the faithful, taints the cardinal’s legacy even further. As a new archbishop is selected, let’s all pray for a more worthy successor.

Zachary Mettler works as a staff writer and communications liaison for the Daily Citizen at Focus on the Family. In his role, he writes about current political issues, U.S. history, political philosophy, and culture. Mettler earned his bachelor’s degree from William Jessup University and is an alumnus of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation. In addition to the Daily Citizen, his written pieces have appeared in the Daily Wire, the Washington Times, the Washington Examiner, Newsweek, Townhall, the Daily Signal, the Christian Post, Charisma News, and other outlets.