SOUTH HOLLAND, Illinois (LifeSiteNews) — American Catholic Press (ACP) has given its 2023 Gratiam Dei Award to an Illinois politician who voted in favor of legalized elective abortion until birth as well as so-called gay “marriage.”
Illinois state Rep. Anthony DeLuca, who formerly served as mayor of Chicago Heights, received the Catholic publishing company’s “highest honor” despite his support of the Reproductive Health Act (RHA), which codified a “fundamental right” to abortion up until birth for any reason, and repealed Illinois’ partial-birth abortion ban.
Described by many pro-life advocates as one of the most extreme laws of its kind, the RHA establishes “that a fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent rights under the law.”
DeLuca told gmtoday in 2022 that he supported the law “to ensure if the Supreme Court did overturn Roe v. Wade, abortion services would remain legal in Illinois.”
Ironically, ACP also issues a Henry Hyde Award every year to honor pro-life accomplishments.
DeLuca also supported the legalization of so-called gay “marriage” in Illinois a decade ago, declaring he believed it was designed to correct what he described as a “legal inequity.” The Chicago Tribune reported at the time that DeLuca admitted he “struggled to reconcile his Italian-Catholic upbringing and the desire to protect religious rights” with his own understanding of the “gay marriage” issue.
In recognition of religious objections to “same-sex marriage,” he had pushed for an amendment to the bill to ensure that churches would not be forced to host or perform same-sex ceremonies.
Father Michael Gilligan, president of American Catholic Press and rector of San Rocco Oratory, told LifeSiteNews on Thursday that he was not aware of his vote in favor of the RHA but that he was wary of what he realized was his pro-choice position and discussed this with his staff before deciding to award DeLuca. Fr. Gilligan then told DeLuca he was not to discuss abortion during his award ceremony.
“We didn’t honor him for [that] political position,” Gilligan told LifeSiteNews. “We honored him for the fact that he set up Italian Heritage Month in October, and for his great support of the community.”
“If you have a personal opinion that I consider dangerous or harmful, you must keep it to yourself,” said Gilligan, clarifying that his organization has been “a great supporter of the pro-life cause for years.”
Gilligan believes that “If you praise a man like DeLuca, you have a chance of talking to him,” and that the pro-life movement does not “succeed by protesting.”
“I don’t think we hurt the pro-life cause by honoring DeLuca. If anything, we helped,” Gilligan said.
LifeSiteNews expressed concern that DeLuca’s support of abortion contradicts and negates other good works he has accomplished, to which Gilligan responded, “I understand.”
While expressing opposition to so-called same-sex “marriage,” Gilligan affirmed Pope Francis’ support of homosexual civil unions, although this contradicts perennial Catholic Church teaching. The immorality of such civil unions was reaffirmed in 1986, 1992 and 2003 documents issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) under Cardinal Josef Ratzinger – who went on to become Pope Benedict XVI – and approved by Pope John Paul II.
The 2003 letter “Considerations regarding proposals to give legal recognition to unions between homosexual persons” reiterates that homosexual acts go against the natural moral law and that “[t]here are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family.”