Overview
- Cardinal Blase Cupich notified St. Sabina parish in a July 11 letter that the archdiocese had received an allegation that Pfleger sexually abused a female minor more than 30 years ago and asked him to step aside and live away from the parish during the inquiry.
- The allegation was reported to law enforcement and the archdiocese offered the claimant services from its Victim Assistance Ministry while the Office for Child Abuse Investigations and the Independent Review Board conduct their review.
- Pfleger has strongly denied the allegation and said the claim is false and tied to his decades of public activism; the parish has seen public shows of support from dozens of local religious leaders and many parishioners.
- Pfleger was previously cleared after independent reviews of other decades-old accusations in 2021 and 2022, a history that shapes contested expectations about how the current investigation will proceed.
- Observers say the case could affect St. Sabina’s community work and the priest’s public platform, and the next concrete steps to watch are the Independent Review Board’s recommendation to the cardinal and any developments in the law-enforcement inquiry.