The archdiocese's vaccination policy will take effect on 4 Oct, giving unvaccinated employees six weeks from FDA approval to get their vaccination. This is an additional week to the original five weeks proposed.

"We are providing an extra week to allow more time for individuals to plan and schedule their vaccinations," an archdiocese said in a memo yesterday.

While people will have an opportunity to request a medical exemption, religious objections will not be considered.

"We have made this decision convinced that this is the best way to stop the spread of this deadly illness," Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, said in a Thursday email to clergy and staff.

"Following the lead of Pope Francis, we encourage everyone to be vaccinated as an act of charity. … Religious exemptions to vaccination cannot be supported by Catholic teaching. I have instructed our pastors not to grant them."

The policy comes from the Archdiocese of Chicago's COVID-19 Task Force, which has been praised by Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr Allison Arwady for implementing measures last year that enabled schools to reopen safely.

More than 90% of the archdiocese 15,000 employees have already been vaccinated. The policy does not apply to volunteers.

In a separate email to clergy and staff, the Chicago archdiocese outlined a new, temporary policy to address paid time off for vaccinated and unvaccinated workers.

Vaccinated employees who test positive for COVID-19 will get 10 additional sick days to cover quarantine requirements. However, unvaccinated people who cannot work remotely must use their accrued sick, personal or vacation time.

Unvaccinated people will be required to get tested weekly and wear masks in archdiocese facilities, according to the policy.

"The Diocese of Joliet echoes the message of Pope Francis' recent public service advertisement in encouraging all who are able to get vaccinated against COVID-19," Mary Massingale, the diocese's director of communications, said in the statement. But it does not plan on requiring its 2,700 employees or students to receive COVID-19 vaccines.

"The Rockford Diocese, like Pope Francis, believes that getting vaccinated against serious illness is an act of love and Christian charity to all the world," spokeswoman Penny Wiegert said in the statement. It is also not requiring that employees be vaccinated, but highly encouraging its 2,500 employees, volunteers, and members, to get a vaccine.

Sources

Chicago Business

America Magazine

That's what New York magazine writer Lisa Miller wrote of Archbishop Cupich, who has, she said, a "heart for the poor".

"People who know Cupich say he has a particular genius for bridging gaps between rich and poor," Miller wrote.

He could also "model ways to address the agonising national problem of income inequality".

Archbishop-elect Cupich's fans say his brilliance comes from a deep understanding of Catholicism as a unifying force, and not a splintering one.

As Bishop of Spokane, he took off his collar once a week to work anonymously in a soup kitchen.

He is said to know the names of hundreds of the homeless men and women who live in and around Spokane.

He also celebrated Mass with hundreds of undocumented migrant workers in the wake of the wildfires there last summer.

"He drove three hours, and said an outdoor Mass at a camp. Then he stayed for hours afterward," a Spokane diocese spokesman said.

But he was also able to get alongside wealthy Catholics, who might not have agreed with all his actions, and convince them to make substantial contributions to good causes.

In Spokane, he also reduced the diocese's debt from US$4million, when he arrived in 2010, to US$150,000.

He played his part by living on a seminary campus and owning no furniture.

In 2012, Chicago archdiocese ran a deficit of more than US$70 million.

In Spokane, he also encouraged local Catholic Charities to sign up as many poor people as possible to the Obamacare health coverage plan.

He said he was chosen for Chicago "to serve the needs of the people", and characterised his role more as "pastor" than as "messenger".

Pope Francis made similar points in a message this month to US Catholic Charities that "No one is to be a ‘leftover' [and] no one is to be ‘excluded' from God's love and from our care".

Pope Francis said that like the Good Samaritan and Innkeeper in the Bible, "we are called to be in the ‘streets' inviting and serving those who have been left out".

The Pope concluded: "We are called to be a Church, a people of and for the poor".

Sources

• Fortune
• Vatican Radio
• Image: National Catholic Reporter