(LifeSiteNews) — One of the most prominent archbishops in the United States has broken his silence and denounced Cardinal Blase Cupich’s decision to honor pro-abortion U.S. Senator Dick Durbin.

In remarks provided to the National Catholic Register this past weekend, recently retired Kansas City Archbishop Joseph Naumann decried Cupich’s actions as “a source of scandal” and an example of “pastoral neglect.”

“Dialogue does not require giving awards to Catholic political leaders who disregard the most fundamental of human rights, the right to life of the unborn,” Archbishop Naumann said. “Ignoring the policies and recommendations of the Bishops Conference is not synodal and serves to fracture unity.”

He pointed out that the USCCB has “consistently identified the protection of unborn children and their mothers from the tragedy of abortion as the primary human rights issue of our time.”

Archbishop Naumann’s comments brings the list of bishops who have denounced Cupich’s decision to just under 10 clergy in the U.S. They include Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco; Bishop Joseph Strickland, bishop emeritus of Tyler, Texas; Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay, Wisconsin; Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska; Bishop James Wall of Gallup, New Mexico; Bishop Michael Olson of Fort Worth, Texas; Bishop Carl Kemme of Wichita, Kansas; Bishop James Johnston of Kansas City, Missouri; and now Archbishop Joseph Naumann, bishop emeritus of Kansas City, Kansas.

Archbishop Naumann, 76, officially retired in April after Pope Francis accepted his resignation. Francis replaced him with Bishop Shawn McKnight of the Diocese of Jefferson City. In 2021, McKnight signed a letter urging the USCCB to halt discussion of prohibiting the Eucharist to pro-abortion self-identified Catholic politicians. That year, McKnight also claimed that Catholics have a “moral responsibility” to get the experimental, abortion-tainted COVID shots and directed priests not to grant religious exemption requests for the injections, which have been linked to numerous serious injuries and deaths.

Archbishop Naumann held several leadership roles at the USCCB during his long career. Previously, he was the chair of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities and served as vice chair of the Committee for Religious Liberty. He was a member of the Committee on Communications as well, among other positions. He has frequently spoken out against giving Holy Communion to politicians who openly dissent from Catholic teaching on abortion.

The blowback to Cupich’s decision has caused headaches for the cardinal across the nation but seemingly in Illinois as well. The Catholic Conference of Illinois (CCI) was set to hold a board meeting on September 25, but it was canceled one day prior. Board member John Breen had asked that the Durbin award be brought up for discussion during the meeting. The National Catholic Register reports that CCI staff have said the cancellation was unrelated to the award.

“According to Breen, Bishop Paprocki relayed the request to Robert Gilligan, CCI’s executive director, on Sept. 23. After conferring with Cardinal Cupich, Gilligan said that the issue would not be added to the CCI meeting’s agenda but would instead be discussed among the Illinois bishops at their provincial meeting. But the following day, CCI board members were informed by staff via email that their board meeting had been ‘cancelled due to unforeseen quorum/attendance issues,’” the outlet reports.

Some Catholic reporters have speculated that Cupich wants to give Durbin the award as a form of payback for his apparent efforts to increase federal tax dollars being sent to Chicago-area Catholic groups during the COVID-19 outbreak.

“Catholic Charities received $1.4 billion total, with more than $8 million going to Chicago’s arm — the single largest PPP loan of all Catholic Charities affiliates in the country. The second highest was the San Francisco archdiocese, with a loan of nearly $6 million. The Chicago archdiocese itself received $77 million from the Paycheck Protection Program,” a recent report reads. “It was the second-highest award for all Catholic archdioceses, with Los Angeles taking top place at $80 million. Third highest was the archdiocese of Boston, which received $35 million.”

Catholic watchdog site Complicit Clergy launched a campaign encouraging American Catholics to contact the overwhelming majority of bishops who have not spoken out against Cupich’s decision.

The campaign commends those bishops who have already denounced Cupich’s plans and provides contact information for the remaining ordinaries across the U.S. Cupich has since doubled down on his plans to honor the staunchly pro-abortion Durbin, who identifies as Catholic, with a Lifetime Achievement Award “for support of immigrants” at the upcoming “Keep Hope Alive” benefit on November 3.