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Jessica Rodgers, 202-626-8825, mediarelations@nrlc.org
 

NATIONAL RIGHT TO LIFE CONGRATULATES ARCHBISHOP CHARLES CHAPUT
ON APPOINTMENT TO PHILADELPHIA ARCHDIOCESE

WASHINGTON – A press conference in Philadelphia today announced the appointment by Pope Benedict XVI of Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M Cap., D.D., as the new Archbishop of Philadelphia. He replaces Cardinal-Archbishop Justin Rigali who is retiring after serving as archbishop for eight years. An outspoken pro-life advocate, Archbishop Chaput was honored with the National Right to Life Proudly Pro-Life Award in 2005.

"On behalf of the National Right to Life board of directors, our fifty state affiliates, and more than 3,000 local chapters, I'm honored to congratulate Archbishop Chaput on his appointment to the Philadelphia archdiocese," said National Right to Life President Carol Tobias. "From his post in Denver, Archbishop Chaput has reached out to all Americans to embrace the restoration of legal protection for the unborn and the protection of all innocent human life. We know his appointment to Philadelphia will expand the opportunities for his advocacy of the defenseless."

Speaking to Notre Dame Right to Life in April, Archbishop Chaput stated, "Abortion is the foundational human rights issue of our lifetime…you can't build a just society and at the same time legally sanctify the destruction of generations of unborn human life."

Born September 26, 1944, in Concordia, Kansas, he attended Our Lady of Perpetual Help Grade School in Concordia and St. Francis Seminary High School in Victoria, Kansas. He was ordained to the priesthood on August 29, 1970, and was ordained Bishop of Rapid City, South Dakota, on July 26, 1988.  On April 7, 1997, he was installed as the Archbishop of Denver. A member of the Prairie Band of the Potawatomi Tribe, Archbishop Chaput is only the second Native American to become a Catholic bishop and the first to become an archbishop.

"We look forward to Archbishop Chaput's continued pro-life advocacy from his new post in Philadelphia," Tobias added.

Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of 50 state right-to-life affiliates and more than 3,000 local chapters, is the nation's oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement, NRLC works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide and euthanasia.