CNA Staff, Oct 2, 2025 / 13:46 pm

Political and religious debate has continued to ferment in the wake of Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin’s withdrawal from a prominent Catholic award after backlash over his decades of support for pro-abortion politics.

Durbin was scheduled to receive a “Lifetime Achievement Award for support to immigrants” at a Chicago archdiocesan event in November. But criticism from numerous U.S. bishops led the senator to back out of the award ceremony on Sept. 30.

Pope Leo XIV even weighed in on the controversy prior to Durbin’s decision, seemingly coming at least partly to the senator’s defense on Sept. 30 when during a press conference at the Vatican he argued that it was “important to look at the overall work that a senator has done [during] 40 years of

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