(LifeSiteNews) — Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich is under fire for attending an annual Muslim-Catholic “Iftar” dinner.
“Happy to be at the … Muslim-Catholic Iftar in Morton Grove tonight to break the daily fast observed by our Muslims brothers and sisters during Ramadan,” Cupich said on X yesterday.
Cupich is one of the most liberal members of the clergy in the United States. He has attended multiple Iftar dinners in the past, dating to at least 2016. His praise for Muslims comes as New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan has also been receiving blowback for equating Lent to “Catholic Ramadan” this week.
Cupich’s X post was “ratioed” by Catholics on the site. What that means is that more users responded critically to it than supported or “liked” it.
“Would you please become Catholic?” one user seemingly fed up with his repeated dissidence asked.
“Muslim traditions: cool man! Catholic tradition: end it, very dangerous,” said another, who was seemingly drawing attention to Cupich’s hostility to receiving Communion on the tongue while kneeling.
You are disgusting.
Muslim traditions: cool man!
Catholic tradition: end it, very dangerous.
Please repent, for the sake of your soul and for the sake of your flock.— YellerDog (@B1929J32229) March 5, 2025
Former LifeSite journalist Hilary White also weighed in.
“Repent and go to the press and tell them everything you know about the actions and functioning of the criminal McCarrick cult,” she said. “Then you need to resign and go spend the remainder of your days sweeping the stairs in whatever monastery you can convince to take you.”
Repent and go to the press and tell them everything you know about the actions and functioning of the criminal McCarrick cult. Then you need to resign, and go spend the remainder of your days sweeping the stairs in whatever monastery you can convince to take you.
— Hilary White (@HilarityjaneArt) March 5, 2025
This year’s event, organized by the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOCG), was the 26th annual Muslim-Catholic Iftar. Cupich’s predecessor, Cardinal Francis George, also attended the dinners before his death in 2015.
Dolan has also made laudatory comments about Ramadan, which he called a “season of penance.”
“Ash Wednesday is coming Wednesday, and that’s kind of our Catholic Ramadan, so let’s unite with our Islamic brothers and sisters in prayer and fasting,” he said.
Cardinal Dolan: “Ash Wednesday is kind of our Catholic Ramadan. Let’s unite with our Islamic brothers & sisters in prayer & fasting.”
He cites the rigorous observance of Islamic Ramadan to motivate Catholics in Lent
pic.twitter.com/1TE5Q7NKeb— Michael Haynes 🇻🇦 (@MLJHaynes) February 28, 2025
The Vatican’s in-house news outlet Vatican News likewise described Ramadan as “a time of prayer and reconciliation for the good of Creation.”
Vatican’s in-house news outlet Vatican News described Muslim Ramadan as “a time of prayer & reconciliation for the good of Creation”
Details on @LifeSite
Others have documented increased Islamic violence against non-Muslims during Ramadan, saying this is in line with the Koran pic.twitter.com/qQnnZ2Y6LQ
— Michael Haynes 🇻🇦 (@MLJHaynes) March 3, 2025
Ramadan is a holy month in Islam during which adherents are called upon to abstain from food and drink from dawn until dusk, at which point they partake in an “Iftar” meal.
Unlike Catholic Lenten fasting, Ramadan often includes Muslims indulging in exorbitant Iftar meals and sumptuous morning breakfasts.
As previously reported by LifeSite, Christian fasting practices, which were downplayed in the Catholic Church after the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), predate Ramadan, which began in 662 AD. Christians have also fasted since Apostolic times. The 40-day Lenten fast was fixed by the year 400 AD and has never included, as does Ramadan, nightly feasting and a predawn meal.
