{{short description|American prelate of the Catholic Church|bot=PearBOT 5}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2015}} {{Infobox Christian leader | honorific-prefix = | name = | honorific-suffix = | archbishop_of = Archbishop Emeritus of Philadelphia | image = Charles Joseph Chaput.jpg | caption = Chaput at Georgetown University in 2012 | church = Latin Church | archdiocese = Philadelphia | diocese = | see = | appointed = July 19, 2011 | enthroned = September 8, 2011 | retired = January 23, 2020 | predecessor = Justin Francis Rigali | successor = Nelson J. Pérez | ordination = August 29, 1970 | ordained_by = Cyril John Vogel | consecration = July 26, 1988 | consecrated_by = Pio Laghi, John Roach, and James Stafford | other_post = | previous_post = {{indented plainlist| * Archbishop of Denver (1997{{nbnd}}2011) * Bishop of Rapid City (1988{{nbnd}}1997) }} | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1944|9|26}} | birth_place = Concordia, Kansas, US | death_date = | death_place = | buried = | alma_mater = | signature = | motto = As Christ loved the church | coat_of_arms = | honorific_prefix = His Excellency, The Most Reverend | honorific_suffix = OFMCap }} {{Infobox bishopstyles | name= Charles Joseph Chaput | dipstyle= *His Excellency *The Most Reverend | offstyle=Your Excellency | relstyle=Archbishop | image = Coat of arms of Charles Joseph Chaput.svg | image_size = 200px }} {{Ordination | ordained deacon by = | date of diaconal ordination = | place of diaconal ordination = | ordained priest by = Cyril John Vogel | date of priestly ordination = August 29, 1970 | place of priestly ordination = | consecrated by = Pío Laghi | co-consecrators = John Roach,<br />James Stafford | date of consecration = July 26, 1988 | place of consecration = | elevated by = | date of elevation = | sources = | bishop 1 = José Horacio Gómez | consecration date 1 = January 23, 2001 | bishop 2 = James D. Conley | consecration date 2 = May 30, 2008 | bishop 3 = Paul Etienne | consecration date 3 = December 9, 2009 | bishop 4 = Fernando Isern | consecration date 4 = December 10, 2009 | bishop 5 = Lawrence T. Persico | consecration date 5 = October 1, 2012 | bishop 6 = Edward C. Malesic | consecration date 6 = July 13, 2015 }} '''Charles Joseph Chaput''', OFMCap ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ʃ|æ|p|j|uː}} {{respell|SHAP|yoo}};<ref>{{cite news |last=Baldwin |first=Lou |date=July 20, 2011 |title=Philadelphia Welcomes Archbishop Chaput |url=http://catholicphilly.com/2011/07/news/philadelphia-welcomes-archbishop-chaput/ |website=CatholicPhilly.com |publisher=Archdiocese of Philadelphia |access-date=October 29, 2017 |archive-date=June 18, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618125614/http://catholicphilly.com/2011/07/news/philadelphia-welcomes-archbishop-chaput/ |url-status=live }}</ref> born September 26, 1944) is an American Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Philadelphia from 2011 to 2020. He previously served as Archbishop of Denver (1997–2011) and Bishop of Rapid City (1988–1997). He was the first Archbishop of Philadelphia in 100 years who was not named a cardinal. Chaput is a professed Capuchin Franciscan, a member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation in Kansas, the second Native American Catholic bishop, and the first such archbishop.<ref name="archden">{{cite news|work=Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver |title=Biography and Curriculum Vitae of Most Reverend Charles J. Chaput, OFM, D.D. |url=http://www.archden.org/index.cfm/ID/272/Archbishop's-Biography-/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724074310/http://www.archden.org/index.cfm/ID/272/Archbishop%27s-Biography-/ |archive-date=July 24, 2011 }}</ref>
==Early life== Charles Chaput was born on September 26, 1944, in Concordia, Kansas, one of three children of Joseph and Marian Helen (née DeMarais) Chaput.<ref name=archden/> His father was a French Canadian who was descended from King Louis IX of France.<ref name=power>{{cite news|date=March 1999 |volume=12 |issue=2 |page=7 |work=AD2000 |title=Charles Chaput: a remarkable American Archbishop |url=http://www.ad2000.com.au/articles/1999/mar1999p7_374.html |last=Power |first=Louis |access-date=July 19, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110804220254/http://www.ad2000.com.au/articles/1999/mar1999p7_374.html |archive-date=August 4, 2011 |df=mdy }}</ref><ref name=coat>{{cite news|work=Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver |title=The Coat of Arms of Archbishop of Denver Charles Chaput |url=http://www.archden.org/index.cfm/ID/273/Coat-of-Arms-/ |access-date=July 19, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723140353/http://www.archden.org/index.cfm/ID/273/Coat-of-Arms-/ |archive-date=July 23, 2011 |df=mdy }}</ref> His mother was a Native American of the Prairie Band Potawatomi tribe; his maternal grandmother was the last member of the family to live on a reservation. Chaput himself was enrolled in the tribe at a young age, taking the name ''Pietasa'' ("rustling wind").<ref name=power/><ref name=palmo>{{cite news | date = July 18, 2011 | work = Whispers in the Loggia | title = Render Unto Chaput – Sources: Denver's Capuchin = Philadelphia's Revolution | url = https://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/2011/07/render-unto-chaput-sources-denvers.html | last = Palmo | first = Rocco | access-date = July 19, 2011 | archive-date = September 9, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110909143110/http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/2011/07/render-unto-chaput-sources-denvers.html | url-status = live }}</ref> His Potawatomi name is "the wind that rustles the leaves of the tree" while his Sioux name is "good eagle".<ref>[https://archive.today/20120908054426/http://www.phillyburbs.com/my_town/bensalem/next-philadelphia-archbishop-promises-changes/article_847fb578-4479-5cf6-855a-5e2a6841d541.html?mode=print PhillyBurbs.com: "Next Philadelphia archbishop promises changes" By James McGinnis] July 20, 2011</ref>
Chaput received his early education at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Grade School in Concordia.<ref name=archden/> Deciding to become a priest at the age of 13,<ref name=power/> he attended St. Francis Seminary High School in Victoria, Kansas.
In 1965, at age 21, Chaput entered the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, a branch of the Franciscans, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.<ref name=archden/> In 1967, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in philosophy from St. Fidelis College Seminary in Herman, Pennsylvania. As a seminarian, Chaput was an active volunteer in the 1968 US presidential campaign of US Senator Robert F. Kennedy.<ref name=":1" /> On July 14, 1968, he made his solemn profession as a Capuchin friar. In 1970, he graduated with a Master of Arts degree in religious education from Capuchin College in Washington, DC.<ref name=archden/>
==Priesthood== Chaput was ordained to the priesthood for the Capuchin Order by Bishop Cyril Vogel on August 29, 1970.<ref name=":0" />He received a Master of Theology degree from the University of San Francisco in 1971. From 1971 to 1974, he was an instructor in theology and spiritual director at St. Fidelis College. He then served as executive secretary and director of communications for the Capuchin province in Pittsburgh until 1977.
As a young priest, he supported the election of Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter as US president in 1976.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |last=Chaput |first=Charles |date=March 10, 2010 |title=Thoughts on "Roman Catholics for Obama" |url=http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2008/06/thoughts-on-roman-catholics-fo |access-date=July 19, 2011 |work=First Things |archive-date=December 14, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111214193300/http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2008/06/thoughts-on-roman-catholics-fo |url-status=live }}</ref> Chaput was appointed pastor of Holy Cross Parish in Thornton, Colorado.
Chaput was elected vicar provincial for the Capuchin Province of Mid-America in 1977 and became secretary and treasurer for the province in 1980 and chief executive and provincial minister in 1983. He was part of a group of Native Americans who greeted Pope John Paul II when he visited Phoenix, Arizona, in 1987.
==Episcopal career==
===Bishop of Rapid City=== On April 11, 1988, Chaput was appointed bishop of Rapid City by John Paul II. He was consecrated on July 26, 1988, by Archbishop Pio Laghi, with Archbishop John Roach and Archbishop James Stafford serving as co-consecrators.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Archbishop Charles Joseph Chaput [Catholic-Hierarchy] |url=https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bchaput.html |access-date=2023-11-12 |website=www.catholic-hierarchy.org |archive-date=November 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231112213035/https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bchaput.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
Chaput was the second priest of Native American ancestry to be consecrated a bishop in the United States, after Bishop Donald Pelotte. He was the first Native American to be consecrated as an ordinary bishop rather than a titular bishop.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}} He chose as his episcopal motto: ''"As Christ Loved the Church"'' from Ephesians 5:25.
===Archbishop of Denver=== On February 18, 1997, Chaput was appointed by John Paul II as archbishop of Denver, replacing Archbishop James Stafford.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/AAS-89-1997-ocr.pdf |title=Acta Apostolicae Sedis |date=1997 |volume=LXXXIX |page=202 |access-date=January 23, 2020 |archive-date=February 15, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215120217/https://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/AAS-89-1997-ocr.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2007, Chaput delivered the commencement address at Denver's Augustine Institute. In 2008, he became the episcopal moderator of the Tekakwitha Conference, a ministry for Native American Catholics.
In 2007, Chaput conducted an apostolic visitation to the Diocese of Toowoomba in Queensland, Australia, on behalf of the Congregation for Bishops in Rome. The Vatican was concerned by statements that Bishop Bill Morris had made regarding the ordination of women.<ref>{{cite news |date=4 January 2007 |title=Call to ordain women |newspaper=The Courier-Mail |location=Australia |url=http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/call-to-ordain-women/story-e6freoof-1111112782102 |url-status=live |accessdate=2 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120411131146/http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/call-to-ordain-women/story-e6freoof-1111112782102 |archive-date=11 April 2012}}</ref> In May 2011, Pope Benedict XVI removed Morris as bishop of Toowoomba after he refused to resign.<ref>{{cite press release |url=http://www.catholic.org.au/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=1136 |title=Diocese of Toowoomba |work=Apostolic Nunciature to Australia |location=Canberra, Australia |date=2 May 2011 |accessdate=4 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929001128/http://www.catholic.org.au/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=1136 |archive-date=29 September 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref>
Chaput was one of five bishops who conducted a Vatican-ordered investigation into the Legionaries of Christ in 2009 to 2010. The investigation was prompted by sexual abuse accusations against the group's founder, Reverend Marcial Maciel, whom the Vatican had removed from ministry in 2006<ref>{{cite news | publisher = National Catholic Reporter | access-date = January 24, 2020 | date = April 30, 2010 | url = https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/pope-meets-investigators-disgraced-legion | title = Pope meets with investigators of disgraced Legion | agency = Religion News Service | first = Francis X. | last = Rocco | archive-date = October 1, 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201001060035/https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/pope-meets-investigators-disgraced-legion | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=July 1, 2009 |title=Apostolic visit to Legionaries of Christ to begin July 15 <!--|Staff article--> |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/16431/apostolic-visit-to-legionaries-of-christ-to-begin-july-15 |access-date=March 24, 2016 |website=Catholic News Agency |archive-date=March 6, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306214241/http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/apostolic_visit_to_legionaries_of_christ_to_begin_july_15/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="statement">{{Cite web |title=Communiqué of the Holy See regarding the Apostolic Visitation of the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ, 1 May 2010 |url=https://www.vatican.va/resources/resources_comunicato-legionari-cristo-2010_en.html |website=www.vatican.va |access-date=November 12, 2023 |archive-date=January 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120015531/https://www.vatican.va/resources/resources_comunicato-legionari-cristo-2010_en.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
===Archbishop of Philadelphia=== On July 19, 2011, Chaput was appointed as archbishop of Philadelphia by Pope Benedict XVI.<ref>{{cite news|date=July 19, 2011 |work=Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia |title=Archbishop Charles Chaput, OFMCap, named Archbishop of Philadelphia |url=http://archphila.org/press%20releases/pr001822.htm |access-date=July 19, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723234244/http://archphila.org/press%20releases/pr001822.htm |archive-date=July 23, 2011 }}</ref> He succeeded Cardinal Justin Rigali, who had reached retirement age of 75 in April 2010.<ref>{{cite news|date=July 18, 2011|work=National Catholic Reporter|title=Pope taps Chaput for Philadelphia|url=http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/pope-taps-chaput-philadelphia|last=Allen, Jr.|first=John L.|access-date=July 19, 2011|archive-date=July 21, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721102146/http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/pope-taps-chaput-philadelphia|url-status=live}}</ref> Chaput's strong record in handling cases of sexual abuse by priests was cited as a rationale for his appointment.<ref>{{cite news|date=July 19, 2011|work=The New York Times|title=For Philadelphia Archdiocese, a Powerful Conservative Voice|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/20/us/20chaput.html|last=Goodstein|first=Laurie|access-date=February 18, 2017|archive-date=February 6, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180206022100/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/20/us/20chaput.html|url-status=live}}</ref> He was installed on September 8, 2011.
From August 17 to 19, 2011, Chaput gave catechesis at the World Youth Day 2011 in Madrid, Spain, similar to the function he performed at the 2008 World Youth Day in Sydney.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://catholiclane.com/finding-a-lampstand-a-review-of-archbp-chaput%E2%80%99s-render-unto-caesar/ |title=Review of Archbishop Chaput's ''Render unto Caesar'' |work=Catholic Lane |date=July 19, 2011 |access-date=July 28, 2011 |archive-date=August 27, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110827060108/http://catholiclane.com/finding-a-lampstand-a-review-of-archbp-chaput%E2%80%99s-render-unto-caesar/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=July 27, 2011 |title=Archbishop Chaput among 8 US Prelates Chosen as WYD Catechists |url=http://www.zenit.org/article-33165?l=english |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927161552/http://www.zenit.org/article-33165?l=english |archive-date=September 27, 2012 |access-date=July 28, 2011 |publisher=ZENIT News Agency |df=mdy}}</ref> On November 14, 2014, at a meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Chaput was elected as a delegate to the 2015 Synod of Bishops on the Family, pending Vatican approval.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/30934/us-bishops-elect-delegates-to-synod-kurtz-chaput-dinardo-gomez|title=US bishops elect delegates to synod: Kurtz, Chaput, DiNardo, Gomez|access-date=November 14, 2014|archive-date=November 16, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141116153906/http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/us-bishops-elect-delegates-to-synod-kurtz-chaput-dinardo-gomez-42472/|url-status=live}}</ref> Though Chaput led a historically important see and his five immediate predecessors were cardinals, Benedict XVI did not appoint him a cardinal in his two 2012 consistories, nor did Pope Francis in any of his.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.americamagazine.org/content/dispatches/new-cardinals-signal-shift-away-us-culture-wars|title=New cardinals signal a shift away from the U.S. culture wars|date=October 9, 2016|publisher=America|first=Michael J.|last=O'Loughlin|access-date=January 24, 2020|archive-date=October 10, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161010120004/http://www.americamagazine.org/content/dispatches/new-cardinals-signal-shift-away-us-culture-wars|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=terruso>{{cite news | access-date = January 24, 2020 | work = Philadelphia Inquirer | url = https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/20151011_Is_Chaput_in_line_for_cardinal_.html | date = October 10, 2015 | title = Cardinal Chaput? Not so fast | first = Julia | last = Terruso | archive-date = September 26, 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190926192329/https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/20151011_Is_Chaput_in_line_for_cardinal_.html | url-status = live }}</ref>
=== Retirement === Pope Francis accepted Chaput's letter of resignation as archbishop of Philadelphia on January 23, 2020.<ref>{{cite news|date=January 23, 2020|url=https://www.phillyvoice.com/archdiocese-philadelphia-nelson-perez-replace-charles-chaput-cleveland-pope-francis/|title=Cleveland's Bishop Nelson Perez to replace Archbishop Charles Chaput as leader of Philadelphia Catholic church|work=Philly Voice|first=Virginia|last=Streva|access-date=January 23, 2020|archive-date=May 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200509005747/https://www.phillyvoice.com/archdiocese-philadelphia-nelson-perez-replace-charles-chaput-cleveland-pope-francis/|url-status=live}}</ref> In August 2021, Chaput received the first annual Mother Angelica Award from EWTN Global Catholic Network.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |title=Archbishop Chaput honored with first annual Mother Angelica Award |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/248692/archbishop-chaput-honored-with-first-annual-mother-angelica-award |access-date=2025-12-26 |website=Catholic News Agency |language=en}}</ref>
==Views== === Abortion === Regarding whether Catholic politicians who support legalized abortion should be denied communion, Chaput wrote in 2004 that, while denying anyone the Eucharist is a "very grave matter" that should be used only in "extraordinary cases of public scandal", those who are "living in serious sin or who deny the teachings of the Church" should voluntarily refrain from receiving communion.<ref>{{cite news |last=Gorski |first=Eric |date=May 29, 2004 |title=Denver archbishop: Catholics must accept church's teachings |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20040529/ai_n14573032 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080927151353/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20040529/ai_n14573032 |archive-date=September 27, 2008 |access-date=February 26, 2006 |newspaper=The Denver Post}}</ref>
The ''New York Times'' in 2004 reported that Chaput said it was sinful for Catholics to vote for Democratic US presidential nominee Senator John Kerry. He noted Kerry's views on abortion, among others. According to the ''Times'', Chaput said that anyone voting for Kerry was "cooperating in evil" and needed "to go to confession". After the interview, Chaput criticized ''The New York Times'' for the way it allegedly construed his remarks. The archdiocese criticized the article as being "heavily truncated and framed" and posted a full transcript of it.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.archden.org/images/nyt_transcript.pdf |title=All the News That's Fit to Print... Sort Of |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041124064800/http://www.archden.org/images/nyt_transcript.pdf |archive-date=November 24, 2004 |df=mdy }}</ref> He stopped responding to the paper's inquiries for six years, in part because he believed the ''Times'' had misrepresented him.<ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nicole-neroulias/denver-archbishop-chaput-_b_738516.html | work = The Huffington Post | title = Denver Archbishop Chaput May Reconsider New York Times Boycott | first = Nicole | last = Neroulias | date = September 24, 2010 | access-date = July 19, 2011 | archive-date = August 20, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110820214150/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nicole-neroulias/denver-archbishop-chaput-_b_738516.html | url-status = live }}</ref> Chaput was seen by some critics as "part of a group of bishops intent on throwing the weight of the Catholic Church into the elections".<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/12/politics/campaign/12catholics.html?_r=1 | title = Group of Bishops Using Influence to Oppose Kerry | last1 = Kirkpatrick | first1 = David D. | first2 = Laurie | last2 = Goodstein | date = October 12, 2004 | work = The New York Times | access-date = July 19, 2011 | archive-date = January 16, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120116001901/http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/12/politics/campaign/12catholics.html?_r=1 | url-status = live }}</ref> In public comments, his linkage of the eucharist to the policy stances of political candidates and their supporters were seen as a politicization of moral theology.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20040529/ai_n14573032 |title=Denver archbishop: Catholics must accept church's teachings | Oakland Tribune | Find Articles at BNET |website=findarticles.com |access-date=13 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080927151353/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20040529/ai_n14573032 |archive-date=27 September 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
In a 2009 interview with ''Catholic News Agency'', Chaput criticized a "spirit of adulation bordering on servility" toward President Barack Obama, remarking that "in democracies, we elect public servants, not messiahs". He said that Obama tried to mask his record on abortion and other issues with "rosy marketing about unity, hope, and change". Chaput also dismissed the notion that Obama was given a broad mandate, saying that he was elected to "fix an economic crisis" and not to "retool American culture on the issues of marriage and the family, sexuality, bioethics, religion in public life, and abortion".<ref name="obama">{{cite news | url = http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=93961 | title = Denver Archbishop Warns of 'Spirit of Adulation' Surrounding Obama | date = February 24, 2009 | publisher = Catholic News Agency | access-date = February 26, 2009 | archive-date = June 5, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110605034531/http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=93961 | url-status = live }}</ref>
Chaput in a 2012 interview with the ''Catholic News Service'' stated that absolute loyalty to the Church's teachings on core, bioethical, and natural law doctrinal issues must be a higher priority for Catholics than their identity as Americans, their party affiliation and agenda and the laws of their country; Chaput also argues that for a Catholic, loyalty to God is more important than any other identity. He says that the martyrs and confessors gave witness to this importance.<ref>{{cite web |title=CNS STORY: Archbishop Chaput: Catholic teaching trumps party loyalty on abortion |url=http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1204504.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20121205203427/http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1204504.htm |archive-date=December 5, 2012 |website=webarchive.loc.gov |df=mdy-all}}</ref>
Chaput in September 2016 said that the 2016 American presidential election offered Americans the "worst choice in 50 years". In his view, both Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were "deeply flawed" candidates.<ref>{{cite news |date=September 16, 2016 |title=US presidential election offers the worst choice in 50 years, says archbishop |url=http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2016/09/16/presidential-election-candidates-are-the-worst-choice-in-50-years-says-us-archbishop/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180806113235/http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2016/09/16/presidential-election-candidates-are-the-worst-choice-in-50-years-says-us-archbishop/ |archive-date=August 6, 2018 |access-date=January 23, 2020 |work=The Catholic Herald}}</ref>
=== Gun control === Following the 2019 mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, Chaput wrote that he supports background checks for purchasers of firearms, but added this comment:<blockquote>Only a fool can believe that 'gun control' will solve the problem of mass violence. The people using the guns in these loathsome incidents are moral agents with twisted hearts. And the twisting is done by the culture of sexual anarchy, personal excess, political hatreds, intellectual dishonesty, and perverted freedoms that we've systematically created over the past half-century.<ref>{{cite news | url = https://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2019/08/07/chaput-only-a-fool-can-believe-that-gun-control-will-stop-mass-violence/ | work = The Catholic Herald | date = 7 August 2019 | first = Christine | last = Rouselle | title = Archbishop Chaput: Look deeper than symptoms to solve mass violence | access-date = January 24, 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191213132346/https://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2019/08/07/chaput-only-a-fool-can-believe-that-gun-control-will-stop-mass-violence/ | archive-date = December 13, 2019 | url-status = dead }}</ref></blockquote>
=== Homosexuality === In a 2011 interview with ''National Catholic Reporter,'' Chaput expressed his opposition same-sex marriage and questioned the upbringing of children of same-sex couples. He has said that same-sex couples cannot show children that their parents love each other in the same way that opposite-sex couples can.<ref>{{cite news | url = http://ncronline.org/news/people/exclusive-interview-archbishop-charles-chaput | title = Exclusive interview with Archbishop Charles Chaput | last1 = Allen | first1 = John L. | date = July 19, 2011 | newspaper = National Catholic Reporter | access-date = July 19, 2011 | archive-date = July 21, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110721094510/http://ncronline.org/news/people/exclusive-interview-archbishop-charles-chaput | url-status = live }}</ref>
In 2015, Chaput supported the dismissal of Margie Winters, the director of religious education at Waldron Mercy Academy in Merion Station, Pennsylvania. Winters had married her female partner in a civil marriage ceremony in 2007. When a parent reported their marriage to Waldron, Principal Nell Stetser asked Winters to resign; when she refused, the school did not renew her contract.<ref>{{cite news |title=A Catholic Mother Reflects on Furor Over Philly Teacher in Same-Sex Marriage |url=https://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/a-catholic-mother-reflects-on-furor-over-philly-teacher-in-same-sex-marriag/ |first=Joan Frawley |last=Desmond |date=July 21, 2015 |access-date=September 24, 2015 |archive-date=September 23, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923000938/http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/a-catholic-mother-reflects-on-furor-over-philly-teacher-in-same-sex-marriag/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Chaput said the school administrators had shown "character and common sense at a moment when both seem to be uncommon".<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/warren-hall-pope-francis_55ad6324e4b0caf721b39e2c | work=The Huffington Post | title=Gay Priest Fired From Chaplain Job Asks Pope To Meet LGBT Catholics In U.S | date=July 20, 2015 | access-date=September 24, 2015 | archive-date=January 15, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160115093343/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/warren-hall-pope-francis_55ad6324e4b0caf721b39e2c | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://articles.philly.com/2015-07-16/news/64454387_1_pope-francis-chaput-catholic-church|title=Archives - Philly.com|website=The Philadelphia Inquirer|access-date=September 24, 2015|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304082659/http://articles.philly.com/2015-07-16/news/64454387_1_pope-francis-chaput-catholic-church|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release |url= https://officeforcommunications.flocknote.com/note/203105 |title= Statement of Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, OFMCap Regarding Waldron Mercy Academy |access-date= January 26, 2020 |date= July 13, 2015 |website= Archdiocese of Philadelphia Office of Communications |archive-date= January 25, 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200125050306/https://officeforcommunications.flocknote.com/note/203105 |url-status= live }}</ref>
On October 4, 2018, at the Synod on Young People and Vocations in Rome, Chaput objected to the use of the terms "LGBT" or "LGBTQ" in church documents. He said:<blockquote>"There is no such thing as an ‘LGBTQ Catholic' or a 'transgender Catholic' or even a 'heterosexual Catholic,' as if our sexual appetites defined who we are; as if these designations described discrete communities of differing but equal integrity within the real ecclesial community, the body of Jesus Christ." </blockquote>
=== Immigration reform === Chaput in 2013 advocated the reform of immigration laws to regularize the status of most undocumented immigrants as a moral imperative.<ref>{{cite web |last=Chaput |first=Charles |date=19 February 2013 |title=Justice, prudence and immigration reform |url=http://catholicphilly.com/2013/02/think-tank/weekly-message-from-archbishop-chaput/justice-prudence-and-immigration-reform/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130224070635/http://catholicphilly.com/2013/02/think-tank/weekly-message-from-archbishop-chaput/justice-prudence-and-immigration-reform/ |archive-date=February 24, 2013 |access-date=24 January 2020 |publisher=Catholic Philly}}</ref> ===Politics=== In his 2008 book ''Render unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living Our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life'', Chaput exhorts Catholics to take a "more active, vocal, and morally consistent role" in the political process, arguing that private convictions cannot be separated from public actions without diminishing both. Rather than asking citizens to put aside their religious and moral beliefs for the sake of public policy, Chaput believed that American democracy depended upon a fully engaged citizenry, including religious believers, to function properly.<ref>Cf. {{cite book |last=Chaput |first=Charles J. |url=https://archive.org/details/renderuntocaesar00chap |title=Render Unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life |publisher=Doubleday |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-385-52228-1 |url-access=registration}}</ref>
In 2020, Chaput said that public attacks on US Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett reflected anti-Catholic bigotry. Some of the criticism had focused on Barrett's membership i People of Praise, a charismatic ecumenical community.<ref>{{Cite web |last=CNA |title='Virus' of anti-Catholicism behind criticism of Amy Coney Barrett, says Chaput |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/46017/virus-of-anti-catholicism-behind-criticism-of-amy-coney-barrett-says-chaput |access-date=2025-12-26 |website=Catholic News Agency |language=en}}</ref>
=== Sexual abuse === Chaput has denounced what he sees as a lack of orthodoxy in the church. He accused past Catholic leaders of "ignorance, cowardice and laziness in forming young people to carry the faith into the future."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/archbishop-chaput-term-lgbtq-catholic-should-not-be-used-in-church-document |title=Archbishop Chaput: 'LGBT' Should Not Be Used in Church Docs |last=Pentin |first=Edward |date=October 4, 2018 |newspaper=National Catholic Register |access-date=October 5, 2018 |archive-date=October 4, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004203608/http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/archbishop-chaput-term-lgbtq-catholic-should-not-be-used-in-church-document |url-status=live }}</ref> On March 27, 2019, in a speech to Ohio seminarians, he blamed sexual abuse in the Catholic Church on "a pattern of predatory homosexuality and a failure to weed that out from church life".<ref>{{cite news | work = Catholic Philly | access-date = January 26, 2020 | date = March 27, 2019 | first = Charles | last = Chaput | url = https://catholicphilly.com/2019/03/homilies-speeches/facing-the-future-with-hope-and-joy/ | title = Facing the future with hope and joy | archive-date = January 25, 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200125045632/https://catholicphilly.com/2019/03/homilies-speeches/facing-the-future-with-hope-and-joy/ | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2020/01/bishop-perez-of-cleveland-tapped-to-replace-chaput-in-philadelphia/ |title=Bishop Perez of Cleveland tapped to replace Chaput in Philadelphia |last=White |first=Christopher |date=January 24, 2020 |publisher=Crux |access-date=January 24, 2020 |archive-date=January 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200123185811/https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2020/01/bishop-perez-of-cleveland-tapped-to-replace-chaput-in-philadelphia/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | work = America | access-date = January 26, 2020 | date = February 24, 2019 | title = Despite external pressure, little talk of homosexuality at Vatican abuse summit | url = https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2019/02/24/despite-external-pressure-little-talk-homosexuality-vatican-abuse-summit | first = Michael J. | last = O'Loughlin | archive-date = January 25, 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200125054119/https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2019/02/24/despite-external-pressure-little-talk-homosexuality-vatican-abuse-summit | url-status = live }}</ref>
== Public lectures == In 2014, Chaput delivered the twenty-seventh Erasmus Lecture, titled ''Strangers in a Strange Land,'' organized by ''First Things'' magazine and the Institute on Religion and Public Life. In his address, Chaput reflected on the challenges of living a Christian life in a post-Christian society, urging believers to remain faithful witnesses amid cultural and moral upheaval. His lecture anticipated themes he later developed in his 2017 book of the same name, emphasizing the need for courage, community, and clarity of faith in modern public life.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chaput |first=Charles J. |title=Strangers in a Strange Land |url=https://firstthings.com/strangers-in-a-strange-land/ |website=First Things}}</ref>
==See also== * Catholic Church in the United States * Historical list of the Catholic bishops of the United States
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== {{wikiquote}} {{commons category}} * [https://www.archphila.org The Archdiocese of Philadelphia website] * [http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/206226?eng=y How to Conduct Politics as Catholics: The Denver Memorandum], ''Espresso'' (August 13, 2008) * [https://mises.org/story/3081 Review of ''Render Unto Caesar''], The Ludwig von Mises Institute (September 2, 2008) * [https://www.cnn.com/2013/02/14/us/philadelphia-archdiocese-boys-only-football/index.html 'More than able to hold her own,' girl gets boot from Catholic football league.] Chaput quoted.
{{s-start}} {{s-rel|ca}} {{s-bef|before=Harold Joseph Dimmerling}} {{s-ttl|title=Bishop of Rapid City|years=1988–1997}} {{s-aft|after=Blase J. Cupich}} {{s-bef|before=James Stafford}} {{s-ttl|title=Archbishop of Denver|years=1997–2011}} {{s-aft|after=Samuel J. Aquila}} {{s-bef|before=Justin Francis Rigali}} {{s-ttl|title=Archbishop of Philadelphia|years=2011–2020}} {{s-aft|after=Nelson J. Perez}} {{s-end}}
{{Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia}} {{Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver}} {{Roman Catholic Diocese of Rapid City}} {{portal bar|Biography|Catholicism|Christianity|Pennsylvania|United States}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaput, Charles Joseph}} Category:1944 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century American male writers Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers Category:20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the United States Category:21st-century American male writers Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers Category:21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the United States Category:American anti-same-sex-marriage activists Category:American male non-fiction writers Category:American people of French-Canadian descent Category:American religious writers Category:American Roman Catholic writers Category:Capuchins Category:Capuchin bishops Category:Catholics from Colorado Category:Catholics from Kansas Category:Catholic University of America alumni Category:Native American people from Kansas Category:Native American Roman Catholics Category:People from Concordia, Kansas Category:People from Rapid City, South Dakota Category:Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation people Category:Religious figures of the Indigenous peoples of North America Category:Roman Catholic archbishops of Denver Category:Roman Catholic archbishops of Philadelphia Category:Roman Catholic bishops of Rapid City Category:University of San Francisco alumni