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Pope Leo XIV appoints Cardinal Cupich to Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State

Daniel Payne By Daniel Payne for CNA

Pope Leo and Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich at the Vatican on Oct. 9, 2025. (Credit: Daniel Ibañez/EWTN News)

CNA Staff, Oct 15, 2025 / 15:43 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Chicago Archbishop Cardinal Blase Cupich to the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State, the Holy See said on Wednesday.

The Vatican made the announcement via a press release on Oct. 15. The commission functions as the legislative body of Vatican City.

In addition to managing the many functions and activities of the Vatican City government — including security and public order, public health and the environment, economic activities, postal and customs services, and numerous other internal concerns — the commission also oversees the artistic complex of the Vatican Museums and their assets.

Laws proposed by the commission must be approved by the Holy Father.

The Holy See said Leo also appointed to the commission Cardinal Baldassare Reina, the vicar general for the diocese of Rome.

The pope on Oct. 15 further confirmed the commission’s existing membership for the current term.

Still serving as the commission’s president is Sister Raffaella Petrini, FSE, whom Pope Francis appointed earlier this year as the first woman to hold that role.


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44 Comments

  1. I think Leo has lost his mind establishing a prayer room at the Vatican for islamists. I doubt if Orthodox Christian Church would hear anything of this nonsense.

  2. I look forward to the new welcoming of immigrants by the Vatican.

    To borrow and injunction, Pope Leo, tear down those walls.

  3. Presumably the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State is responsible for overseeing the Vatican’s forward-looking abortion initiatives?

    At least Cupich should be able to count on the support of abortion expert and Dark Vatican friend Senator Durbin.

  4. The good news Cupich is leaving Chicago. The bad news is that Pope Leo next selection will likely be similar to Cupich.

  5. A “promotion” to the 109-acre Vatican city-state, rather than to a dicastery of the Holy See. And, as in the United States, when some House members are elected to the Senate, this can improve the average IQ of both houses. Waiting now to see who will replace Cardinal Cupich in Chicago…

    • Groundskeeper at the Leo XIV estate is nothing to sneer about. Besides there’s the camaraderie of two windy men from the Windy City.

    • A charitable construction of this appointment is that Cupich has been kicked upstairs to a largely ineffectual post at the Vatican. He’ll likely do less damage there than in Chicago.

  6. I’m shocked, shocked I tell you. Most all the American catholic media outlets and pundits have been assuring us Leo wasn’t Francis 2.0 and claiming Leo didn’t side with Cupich in the Derbin award scandal. Not only has Leo not accepted Cupich’s resignation, he’s now given him yet another position, also meaning Cupich is staying on in Chicago for the foreseeable future.

  7. I had such Hope, such joy at Pope Leo’s election. I thought I saw in him a good man, a holy man. But, no I was mistaken. It hurts my heart to see he really is Francis 2.0, as the saying goes. I remind myself that God is in charge so all is unfolding in accordance with his will.

  8. Every day I am more disappointed in Francis 2.0. Is this a reward for the havoc and cruelty Cupich has wreaked in Chicago? Nothing on China as they advance with their control of the Church; no ultimatums to those committing ACTUAL genocide of Christians in Nigeria; a big increase in the number of bishops in the US denying the TLM and sneering at altar rails, kneeling for communion, etc (why? because they KNOW Leo is Francis Lite, Francis with kinder words and the trick of wearing traditional vestments)…. but Cupich gets this.

  9. A meaningless membership shared with 5 other Cardinals, and a President (Sister Petrini!) and two Secretaries-General on top. Perhaps a first feathered step in getting the over-age Cupich out of Chicago and maybe out of the country and into regal Vatican episcopal obscurity?

    • My thought as well…when somebody high up the food chain causes a major scandal for the CEO, promoting them somewhere where they can do less damage is SOP. Will have to see who is tapped to replace him before commencing hair pulling, but frankly, past reinstituting pomp and circumstance, have yet to see much of any getting back on course for the Church…not yet, anyhow…

  10. This is a sad appointment. I am getting more and more disappointed in this pope as he makes appalling decisions such as appointing Cupich. I am not a Trad! I am a common-sense American Catholic who realizes that promoting the ethics of normalizing homosexual acts in the Church, as in okaying homosexual marriage, is part of Cupich’s plan.

  11. One look at the sordid group of prelates appearing on the loggia with Leo, smiling and glad-handing with each other at his election to the papacy, and it was easy to predict the direction this was going to go. Since he is clearly smarter and more politically astute than was the bombastic, ham-fisted Francis, Leo will probably end up doing far more damage to the Church. God help us…

  12. Let’s get one thing straight: The Catholic Church does not exist to serve the hierarchy (bishops, cardinals and popes). The hierarchy exists to serve the People of God…

  13. Pope Leo is getting close to strike three in my books. Rewarding a cardinal for despicable behavior (honoring the Senate’s most strident pro-abortion member), is a recipe for a disastrous papacy. The verdict is still out, but I am not as hopeful as I had been for this pope. It’s troubling, to say the least.

      • Au contraire.
        This remarkable Irish prophet warned about the ape counter church.

        One world religion with something for everyone at the Vatican nowadays.
        Pachamama if you wish, a Muslim prayer mat in a small Vatican mosque, a seat for a Protestant monarch, pride parades on request, care for creation prayers (rather than true worship to the Creator), a Chinese communist prelate for prayers to Xi.
        But please no traddies.

        • Yes, no traddies!
          No reminder of the essence of Catholicism when the existential Church is so far removed… Rather like Dorian Grey, Ecumenical New Church has a queer aversion to mirrors.
          Traddies are that mirror.

  14. Quite a few years ago now ChurchMilitant organised a ranking by vote of the American bishops at the time. Blaise Cupich ranked as the worst.

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