New Archbishop of Chicago
Blase J. Cupich

Pope Francis will on Saturday 19 September 2014 name Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Washington, a prelate closely identified with the Catholic Church’s progressive wing, to be the next archbishop of Chicago.

Cupich was ordained a priest in 1975 and has experience as both a Catholic schoolteacher and pastor. In 1998, Pope John Paul II named him bishop of Rapid City, S.D., and Pope Benedict XVI moved him to Spokane in 2010. His family heritage is Croatian, on both maternal and paternal sides – his grandparents were the ones to make the US a home in the early part of the Twentieth century, never losing their Croatian identity and roots as the family grew, multiplied and blended into the “American” life.

Blase Cupich visited Croatia in March of this year, not missing to visit the house in the village of Ladanje Donje…