Francis Eugene George (January 16, 1937 – April 17, 2015) was an American Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Chicago from 1997 to 2014. He previously served as Bishop of Yakima and Archbishop of Portland in Oregon. A member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, George was created a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 1998. He served as president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) from 2007 to 2010.
On September 20, 2014, Pope Francis accepted George's resignation and appointed Bishop Blase J. Cupich to succeed him as Archbishop of Chicago. George was diagnosed with cancer in 2006 and died from the disease in 2015.
Francis George was born on January 16, 1937, in Chicago, Illinois, to Francis J. and Julia R. (née McCarthy) George. He had an older sister, Margaret. He received his early education at the parochial school of St. Pascal Parish in Chicago's Northwest Side.
George contracted polio at age 13, leaving him with a permanent limp. Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary in Chicago, rejected George for admission due to his limp. He instead enrolled at St. Henry Preparatory Seminary in Belleville, Illinois, a high school seminary of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. He joined the Oblates on August 14, 1957. He continued his studies at the Oblates novitiate in Godfrey, Illinois, before entering Our Lady of the Snows Seminary in Pass Christian, Mississippi.
George was then sent to study theology at the University of Ottawa in Canada. He made his solemn vows as a member of the Oblates on September 8, 1961.
On December 21, 1963, George was ordained to the priesthood for the Oblates by Bishop Raymond Hillinger at St. Pascal Church in Chicago. After his ordination, he received a Bachelor of Theology degree in Ottawa in 1964.
George then entered the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., receiving a Master of Theology degree in 1965. George then taught philosophy at Our Lady of the Snows Seminary (1964 to 1969), Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana (1968), and Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska (1969 to 1973).
During his teaching assignments, George earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in American philosophy from Tulane University in 1970, and a Master of Theology degree from the University of Ottawa in 1971. He served as provincial superior of the Midwestern Province for the Oblates in Saint Paul, Minnesota, from 1973 until 1974, when he became the Oblates vicar general. Based in Rome, George served as vicar general for 12 years. He obtained a Doctor of Sacred Theology degree from the Pontifical Urbaniana University in 1988, with a thesis entitled: "Inculturation and communion".
George returned to the United States, where he served as coordinator of the Circle of Fellows at the Center for the Study of Faith and Culture in Cambridge, Massachusetts (1987 to 1990).
On July 10, 1990, George was appointed the fifth bishop of Yakima by Pope John Paul II. He received his episcopal consecration on September 21, 1990, from Archbishop Agostino Cacciavillan, with Bishops Roger Schwietz and William S. Skylstad serving as co-consecrators, at Holy Family Church in Yakima. George took as his episcopal motto: Christo Gloria in Ecclesia (Latin: "To Christ be Glory in the Church").
George served as bishop of Yakima for five and a half years. As a member of the USCCB, he served as chair of the Commission for Bishops and Scholars (1992 to 1994), and as a consultant to the Committees on Evangelization (1991 to 1993), Hispanic Affairs (1994 to 1997), and Science and Values (1994 to 1997).
George was an episcopal advisor to the Cursillo Movement (Region XII) from 1990 to 1997, and episcopal moderator of the National Catholic Office for Persons with Disabilities from 1990 to 2008. He was a papal appointee to the 1994 World Synod of Bishops on Consecrated Life, and attended the Ninth Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in Vatican City in 1994.
On April 30, 1996, George was appointed the ninth archbishop of Portland in Oregon by John Paul II. He was installed on the following May 27 at St. Mary's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland, Oregon. During his brief tenure, he led the archdiocese's response to a tape recording by the Lane County jail of an inmate's sacramental confession; the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals later ruled that the tape recording was an unconstitutional and illegal act.
On April 8, 1997, John Paul II appointed George as the eighth archbishop of Chicago, filling the vacancy left by the death of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin on November 14, 1996. George was the first native Chicagoan to become archbishop there. On May 7, 1997, Apostolic Pro-Nuncio Agostino Cacciavillan installed George as archbishop of Chicago in Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago.
On January 18, 1998, John Paul II announced George's elevation to the College of Cardinals with the title of cardinal-priest of Basilica of San Bartolomeo all'Isola in Rome. His elevation occurred at the consistory at the Vatican on February 21.
George addressed the archdiocese's annual Theology on Tap gathering in 1997. In his invitation to the event, he wrote, "You are very important members of the Church. Your energy, talent and faith will give me much help as together we build up our local Church to be a vital presence in the Chicago area. Together we can continue the mission of Jesus Christ to bring the Gospel of love, forgiveness and holiness to all the places where we live and encounter others."As a cardinal elector, George participated in the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI and the papal conclave of 2013 that selected Pope Francis. In 2009, George met with newly elected U.S. President Barack Obama. In 2010, George finished his three-year presidency of the USCCB.
In 2011, George terminated the foster care program of Catholic Charities in the archdiocese. The State of Illinois had ruled that it would stop funding any charities that disqualified same-sex couples as foster care providers or adoptive parents. George refused to comply with this new requirement.
In 2007, George asked Jewish theologians to reconsider descriptions of Jesus in the Talmud as a "bastard". In turn, Catholic theologians should examine a softening of traditional Catholic prayers calling for the conversion of Jews to Christianity. In 2009, he condemned comments made by Richard Williamson denying the existence of the Holocaust, calling his statements "deeply offensive and utterly false".