Chicago City Wire

Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich was once a strong defender of decisions of conscience. 

Today, he's among the city's most vehement opponents of them.

Cupich is the force behind a no excuses COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all Archdiocese of Chicago employees and volunteers. He has promised to fire those who refuse to comply by Oct. 4. 

"Right of conscience" exemptions on the COVID-19 jab, Cupich says, are not allowed.

Sources tell Chicago City Wire that church staff members are preparing to leave the Archdiocese over the mandate. They were long hopeful he would change his mind.

In 2015, when asked whether same-sex couples should be denied Communion, Cupich said no Catholic should be punished for a decision of conscience.

"When people who are in good conscience, working with a spiritual director, come to a decision that they need to follow that conscience. That’s the teaching of the church," Cupich told ABC 7 Chicago's Alan Krashesky.

"So in the case of people receiving Communion in situations that are irregular, that also applies. The question then was, ‘Does that apply to gay people?’ My answer was, ‘They’re human beings, too.’ They have a conscience. They have to follow their conscience. They have to be able to have a formed conscience, understand the teaching of the church, and work with a spiritual director and come to those decisions. And we have to respect that.” 

Cupich has made it clear his respect for decisions of conscience doesn't extend to the COVID-19 jab. 

In August, he lobbied the Philadelphia-based National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) to retract its support of a religious exemption for the vaccine. A board member said Cupich was applying "tremendous pressure" to NCBC, “leaning hard” on his fellow bishops and lay board members.

Archdiocese employees have lobbied Cupich for mercy, to no avail.

"This policy will result in Cupich expelling employees who are the primary breadwinners for their families. Is this what social justice looks like?," said an Archdiocese source. "We cannot speak out because we know we will be punished for this."

Cupich is allowing requests for medical exemptions, submitted through an online portal. 

Sources tell Chicago City Wire that Archdiocese employees requesting medical exemptions must agree to appear in person for an "interrogation" by a panel of non-medical diocesan personnel.

Final appeals can be made to Cupich himself. 

Any employee granted an exemption must agree to weekly COVID-19 testing and wearing a mask at their desk all day. They are also barred from the lunchroom and other common areas.