Cardinal Blase Cupich has reinstated Father Michael Pfleger as senior pastor of St. Sabina Church in Chicago after an independent review board concluded there was no reason to believe he was guilty of a decades-old sexual abuse allegation involving a minor.
The decision returns the longtime Chicago priest to ministry following his suspension in July, when the Archdiocese of Chicago announced that it had received an allegation concerning alleged abuse more than 30 years ago.
In an Aug. 24 statement cited by LifeSiteNews, Cardinal Cupich announced that the review of the allegation had been completed and that Pfleger could immediately return to St. Sabina.
“As to this case, the Review Board has concluded there is no reason to believe Father Pfleger is guilty of this allegation,” Cupich stated. “After careful consideration I have accepted their conclusion and have reinstated Father Pfleger to ministry at St. Sabina, effective immediately.”
The latest investigation adds another chapter to a lengthy and controversial history surrounding Pfleger, who has faced multiple allegations of sexual abuse in recent years but has been permitted to return to ministry after archdiocesan reviews.
According to LifeSiteNews, Pfleger was first removed from ministry in January 2021 after two brothers accused him of sexually abusing them when they were minors. A third man subsequently came forward with an allegation dating to the 1970s.
The Archdiocese of Chicago ultimately reinstated Pfleger in 2021 after determining there was insufficient reason to believe the accusations were substantiated, according to LifeSiteNews.
Another allegation surfaced in 2022, resulting in Pfleger again being suspended from ministry. He was reinstated before Christmas that year after the archdiocesan review board cleared him, according to the report.
Beyond the abuse allegations, Pfleger has been a controversial figure within the Catholic Church for decades because of public statements and political activity that have repeatedly drawn scrutiny.
LifeSiteNews reported that Pfleger has advocated for positions incompatible with established Catholic teaching and discipline, including the ordination of women to the priesthood. The Catholic Church definitively teaches that priestly ordination is reserved to men.
According to the report, Pfleger has also spoken in favor of having a female pope and ending priestly celibacy. In another recorded statement highlighted by LifeSiteNews, Pfleger declared that he “didn’t need a pope.”
His political activism has likewise generated controversy.
Pfleger became a prominent Catholic supporter of Barack Obama before his election as president. According to LifeSiteNews, Pfleger praised Obama in 2007 as “the best thing to come across the political scene since Bobby Kennedy.”
The late Cardinal Francis George, who was then archbishop of Chicago, later required Pfleger to take a temporary leave of absence following controversial political remarks. According to a Chicago Tribune report cited by LifeSiteNews, the action was intended to give Pfleger time to reflect on comments that violated the “discipline common to all Catholic priests.”
Pfleger has also allowed prominent political and cultural figures who supported legal abortion to speak from the pulpit at St. Sabina, according to LifeSiteNews. The report identified singer Harry Belafonte and Al Sharpton among those who appeared at the parish.
The priest’s relationship with archdiocesan leadership has been contentious at other points as well. Cardinal George suspended Pfleger in 2011 after the priest made comments suggesting he might leave the Catholic Church rather than accept reassignment from St. Sabina. Pfleger later apologized and was restored to the parish.
More recently, Pfleger drew attention during a June 2026 press conference at Chicago City Hall. According to LifeSiteNews, he told President Donald Trump to “shut up” while criticizing the president’s response to Chicago’s gun violence and calling for the restoration of federal funding that Pfleger argued could help address the crisis.
Pfleger’s reinstatement does not represent a finding that every previous allegation or controversy surrounding the priest was unfounded. Rather, Cardinal Cupich’s August decision concerns the latest abuse allegation and follows the review board’s determination that there was “no reason to believe Father Pfleger is guilty of this allegation.”
The decision nevertheless returns one of Chicago’s most controversial Catholic priests to active parish ministry once again, renewing attention not only to the accusations he has faced but also to his long record of public statements and activism that have placed him at odds with Catholic teaching and ecclesiastical discipline.
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