A Papal Intervention and a Canceled Award: What (If Anything) Did Pope Leo XIV’s Comments Have to Do with Sen. Durbin’s Decision?

It all went down with breakneck speed: a papal intervention into a weekslong controversy in the Pontiff’s home city, followed just hours later by the abrupt end of the controversy in question. The next day, Catholics are still trying to understand what just happened. A tumultuous five hours on Tuesday began at about 2 p.m. ET, when an EWTN Vatican journalist asked Pope Leo XIV to address the ongoing controversy over Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich’s plan…