Cdl. Cupich in the running to head USCCB Committee for Pro-Life Activities

"Saint" Cdl. Bernardin

The committee is customarily overseen by a cardinal, and one of the candidates for the position is Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago. Cupich is one of few American cardinals who has not headed the committee. Running against him is Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, who is already a pro-life committee member.

In many ways, the election is a referendum on the bishops’ approach to “pro-life activities,” and Bernardin figures significantly into that question.

In theological circles, Cardinal Bernardin is most well-known for his “Consistent Ethic of Life” viewpoint, known colloquially as the “seamless garment" approach. In a famous lecture at Fordham University in 1983, Bernardin explained the concept, advocating “that the pro-life position of the Church must be developed in terms of a comprehensive and consistent ethic of life.”

story at CNA

Considering what Pope Francis has done to remove followers of JPII's Gospel of Life from the Pontifical Academy for Life, it would seem certain that Cds Wuerl and O'Malley are campaigning now to make the USCCB consistent with the wishes of this pontificate.  Unless there's a concerted effort by some bishops, I find it unlikely Cupich would not be appointed.  Everyone fears the Roman terror campaign.

Fun fact, and I'm not certain this is still true but up until some short years ago the USCCB refused to fund a pro-life office.  The only way it could be agreed upon is after the Knights of Columbus volunteered to fund the office themselves.  I'm pretty sure it's still true, but I don't have a way to verify it anymore.

By the way, did you see this?
Critics of Pope Francis establish new academy for human life and family

Several former members of the Vatican’s official Pontifical Academy of Life have formed a new independent academy, nearly a year after Pope Francis issued new statutes for the institution founded by Pope St. John Paul II in 1994.

Austrian Josef Seifert, a professor of philosophy, announced the new “John Paul II Academy for Human Life and the Family” on Oct. 28 at a Rome conference on Humanae Vitae, the 1968 encyclical by Blessed Pope Paul VI which reaffirmed the Church’s prohibition against artificial contraception.

Francis issued new statutes for the pontifical academy in November 2016 to widen the scope of its activity and research on life issues, while at the same time terminating the academy’s membership.