Quinn actively supported passage of the bill legalizing civil unions and even lobbied members on the House floor during the debate. After the bill passed House on Nov. 30, Quinn, a Catholic, told reporters, “My religious faith animates me to support this bill. I think, as a matter of conscience, this was the right vote.”

The next morning, after Quinn’s remark was widely reported in the media, Bishop Paprocki challenged the governor’s support for the bill.

The governor “did not say what religious faith that would be, but it certainly is not the Catholic faith,” Bishop Paprocki said in a statement. “If the governor wishes to pursue a secular agenda for political purposes, that is his prerogative for which he is accountable to the voters. But if he wishes to speak as a Catholic, then he is accountable to Catholic authority, and the Catholic Church does not support civil unions or other measures that are contrary to the natural moral law.”