Rev. Michael Pfleger, second from left, listens to testimony during the Human Rights, Anti-Authoritarianism, Reparatory, and Restorative (HART) Truth Telling Commission public hearing, at the McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, Jan. 21, 2026, to document and mitigate human-rights harms tied to federal militarization and ICE raids. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
Rev. Michael Pfleger, center, greets people during a “peace walk” on West 79th Street in Chicago on June 5, 2026. The walk was organized by Pfleger to call for an end to gun violence and for young people to be safe over the summer months. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)- Activist Julie Contreras, left, embraces Rev. Michael Pfleger during a vigil across the street from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services field office at 101 W. Ida B. Wells Drive in Chicago on June 19, 2025. Contreras and others called for an end to family separations happening due to stepped up immigration enforcement by the Trump administration. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
- Rami Nashashibi, founding executive director of Inner-City Muslim Action Network, holds the a bullhorn for Rev. Michael Pfleger as he speaks during an interfaith LIVE FREE Illinois rally in Daley Plaza on Sept. 8, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
- Erik Miles Jr., left, receives a playful tap on the side of his head from Rev. Michael Pfleger on May 14, 2025, during a celebration at St. Sabina Church in Chicago of the 50th anniversary of Pfleger’s ordination. Miles, who is about to graduate from the church’s school, St. Sabina Academy, said, “St. Sabina raised me.” Sean Johnson, right, graduated from the school in 2006 and is now a basketball coach there. Johnson’s daughter Makenzie is in foreground. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
- Rev. Michael Pfleger, left, laughs while Gov. JB Pritzker speaks behind a podium during a church service at St. Sabina Church in Chicago’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood on Feb. 22, 2026. (Josh Boland/Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger center, talks to Chicago police and community activists at St. Sabina Church on the South Side of Chicago on May 4, 2025, days after several young people in the community were injured in a drive-by shooting. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
- Cardinal Blase Cupich, center left, walks with the Rev. Michael Pfleger outside St. Sabina Church in Chicago on May 14, 2025. The cardinal recently returned from the conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV and visited the church as it celebrated the 50th anniversary of Pfleger’s ordination. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger supervises the distribution of donated food outside St. Sabina Church in Chicago on May 14, 2025. The church is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Pfleger’s ordination. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger hugs Devin Scates of St. Sabina after his speech during the Ninth Annual Vigil Against Violence at the Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church on Oct. 6, 2024. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger talks to church member Cassie Sanders-Brownlow after Sunday Mass at St. Sabina Catholic Church on Dec. 11, 2022, a day after the Archdiocese of Chicago reinstated him. (Michael Blackshire / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger leads hundreds through the streets of the Auburn Gresham neighborhood at an annual peace march to kick off the beginning of summer on June 17, 2022. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger stands outside St. Sabina Church to greet people for a gun buyback event in the Gresham neighborhood on June 11, 2022, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and CFD Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt walk in the "Invading our Community with Peace" weekly Friday walk led by St. Sabina Church in Chicago on June 25, 2021. (Vashon Jordan Jr. / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger pauses during a news conference before his weekly Friday peace walk in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood on June 25, 2021. (Vashon Jordan Jr. / Chicago Tribune)
- Parishioners raise their hands in worship as the Rev. Michael Pfleger leads the Sunday morning service at St. Sabina Church on June 6, 2021. "It's good to be home," an emotional Pfleger said to a packed and jubilant crowd at St. Sabina Church. It was his first time leading a congregation in five months. (Vashon Jordan Jr./Chicago Tribune)
- Sandra Jackson displays an image of the Rev. Michael Pfleger as supporters rally Jan. 8, 2021, in his defense outside St. Sabina Church in Chicago's Auburn Gresham community. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger addresses the media on April 4, 2012, after someone set fire to a shirt that was tied to the door of a St. Sabina parish building. (William DeShazer / Chicago Tribune)
- Anti-violence protest organizer the Rev. Michael Pfleger prays with marchers as they prepare to head down the Dan Ryan expressway at 79th Street on July 7, 2018, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger, center, greets Andre Davidson, 19, during a basketball game at the ARK of St. Sabina, a community youth center in Chicago, on March 20, 2020. The ARK serves 70 to 120 children in the Englewood and Auburn-Gresham communities. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger visits Marquette Park in 2005. As a teen in the mid-1960s, he rode his bike in the area and witnessed some of the racial hatred in the neighborhood during a civil rights march led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. (Chris Walker/Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger, center, greets people before a protest march down the Dan Ryan Expressway at 79th Street on July 7, 2018, in Chicago. The march shut down the Dan Ryan as protesters carried banners demanding stronger gun regulation, community resources, better schools, jobs and economic development. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger offers prayers to his parishioners in 2011 after Mass at St. Sabina Church. With his future at St. Sabina Catholic Church in doubt, Pfleger stood in front of his parish and asked for prayers. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)
- Ald. Daniel Solis, left, and the Rev. Michael Pfleger speak at a news conference in 2000 on Halsted Street near a billboard advertising beer. They claim more billboards advertising tobacco and alcohol have popped up since the introduction of a bill that would prohibit such ads in neighborhoods and near schools. (José Moré/Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger, left, laughs with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan as Farrakhan prepares to speak to people gathered at St. Sabina Church in Chicago on May 9, 2019. Farrakhan was invited to speak after he was banned from the social media platforms Facebook and Instagram. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Church leads about 100 people from the corner of Racine Avenue and 79th Street, where they shut down the intersection during rush hour in protest following the announcement of charges in the Breonna Taylor case on Sept. 23, 2020. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger is led away from Consolidated Distilled Products, Inc., in March 1994. Pfleger testified before the Chicago City Council License Committee in May 1994 in favor of the ban on the sale of alcohol in bottles as small as 1.5 ounces. He said the highly flammable grain alcohol is part of the unadvertised inventory on some liquor store shelves, usually in containers similar to bottles containing individual portions of liquor served on airline flights. "This has become a million-dollar industry," he said, "and the only reason people buy grain alcohol, especially in these small bottles, is to make and use crack cocaine. Nobody buys this and then goes home to drink it." (Eduardo Contreras / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger joins the Rev. Jesse Jackson at a 2007 prayer vigil with victims of gun violence outside Chuck's Gun Shop in Riverdale. The two were were arrested for trespassing while protesting at the shop the week before. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
- Members of St. Sabina Church wear T-shirts as they speak in support of the Rev. Michael Pfleger on Jan. 25, 2021. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger stands near Annette Holt, whose son Blair was fatally shot on a CTA bus in May 2007, as she speaks at a 2008 news conference at St. Sabina Catholic Church. At the news conference, Pfleger and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley announced the "Save Our Children Reward Fund," which offered rewards for information in cases where a child is killed. (Scott Strazzante / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger, embroiled in a controversy after comments he made about Sen. Hillary Clinton, makes a statement to the media and his congregation in 2008 at St. Sabina Catholic Church on the South Side. (Nancy Stone/Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger blesses the congregation during the 2007 Palm Sunday Mass at St. Sabina Catholic Church. (Chuck Berman / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger and the Rev. Jesse Jackson speak before the unveiling of a street sign honoring John Rogers Sr., a former Tuskegee airman and Cook County judge, at 57th Street and Stony Island Avenue in Chicago, on July 5, 2016. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
- Members of St. Sabina Catholic Church pray over the Rev. Michael Pfleger in February 2002 before he addressed parishioners, telling them that Cardinal Francis George agreed he could remain pastor of the South Side parish "for a few more years." (Charles Cherney/Chicago Tribune)
- Greeted by supporters, the Rev. Michael Pfleger prepares to speak at a news conference on May 24, 2021, outside St. Sabina Parish in Chicago. Cardinal Blase Cupich reinstated him as senior pastor. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger attends a news conference outside the Midlothian Police Department on Nov. 16, 2018. Participants called for the firing of the police officer who fatally shot 26-year-old security guard Jemel Roberson, who was detaining a suspect outside a suburban Robbins bar when police arrived and shot Roberson dead. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger is greeted by a supporter after holding a news conference on May 24, 2021, outside St. Sabina Parish in Chicago. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
- People calling for a resolution of the investigation into allegations against the Rev. Michael Pfleger rally outside the Archbishop Quigley Center in Chicago on Feb. 24, 2021. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger speaks outside St. Sabina Parish on May 24, 2021. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
- Director Spike Lee applauds the Rev. Michael Pfleger during the Sunday morning service at St. Sabina Church on June 6, 2021. (Vashon Jordan Jr. / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger is seen in his office at St. Sabina Catholic Church in 2007. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger speaks at a City Council committee meeting about a newly proposed sign ordinance on June 27, 1997, in Chicago. (Phil Greer / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger, center, of St. Sabina Church, prepares to help lead a rally and march of anti-violence supporters along North Michigan Avenue to Water Tower Place on Dec. 31, 2020. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger, right, sits in a police squad roller on March 10, 1994, after he was led from the Consolidated Distilled Products, Inc., building at 3247 S. Kedzie Ave. by Chicago police. Pfleger and his group were protesting companies that sell grain alcohol, which is primarily used for freebasing cocaine. (Eduardo Contreras / Chicago Tribune)
- Tyshawn Lee's parents, Karla Lee and Pierre Stokes, with the Rev. Michael Pfleger at their side, release white doves outside St. Sabina Catholic Church after Tyshawn's funeral on Nov. 10, 2015. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger stands in the reception area of the rectory of St. Sabina Church in 2011 in Chicago after he was suspended from his priestly duties by Cardinal Francis George. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger discusses race and social justice at Elmhurst College on March 28, 2011. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Church leads people from Racine Avenue and 79th Street, where they shut down the intersection during rush hour in protest following the announcement of charges in the Breonna Taylor case on Sept. 23, 2020. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
- Joseph Saunders and other members of St. Sabina Church speak in support of the Rev. Michael Pfleger on Jan. 25, 2021, after two brothers made sexual abuse allegations. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
- People calling for a quick resolution of an investigation into allegations against the Rev. Michael Pfleger rally on Feb. 24, 2021, outside the Archbishop Quigley Center in Chicago. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger and musician Yo-Yo Ma attend a news conference before the "Concert for Peace" at St. Sabina Church on June 10, 2018, in Chicago. The concert honored the victims of gun violence and their families. (Courtney Pedroza / Chicago Tribune)
- Surrounded by supporters, the Rev. Michael Pfleger, center, bows his head in prayer before speaking at a news conference on May 24, 2021, outside St. Sabina Parish in Chicago. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger, left, Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard and Mayor Rahm Emanuel visit homes on Aug 2, 2011, to urge parents to make sure their children go to the first day of school. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger prays with parishioners at St. Sabina Church on March 20, 2011. At the time, Pfleger's tenure at St. Sabina was possibly coming to an end. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)
- A woman holds a Bible with a gloved hand as members of St. Sabina Church speak in support of the Rev. Michael Pfleger on Jan. 25, 2021, after two brothers made sexual abuse allegations. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
- Members of St. Sabina Church speak in support of the Rev. Michael Pfleger on Jan. 25, 2021, after two brothers made sexual abuse allegations against the longtime pastor. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger, pastor at St. Sabina Church, delivers the biblical story of David and Goliath, comparing it to his successful fight with the Heilemann Brewing Co. in Wisconsin to take a high alcoholic content beer off the market on July 7, 1991. (Walter Kale / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger talks with reporters at City Hall on July 23, 1991, protesting the saturation of billboards advertising alcohol and tobacco consumption to minority neighborhoods in Chicago. (Eduardo Contreras / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger invited aldermen to tour the South Side to see billboards advertising alcohol and tobacco on Sept. 9, 1991. With Pfleger is Ald. Shirley Coleman and Ald. Michael Wojcik. (Walter Kale / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger poses at a mural at St. Sabina Catholic Church on July 14, 1989, in Chicago. (Charles Osgood/Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger, center, arrives at the Westin Hotel for a meeting with Heilemann Brewing Co. officials over the new Powermaster beer on July 3, 1991, in Chicago. (Charles Cherney / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger at St. Sabina Catholic Church in 1981, the year he became pastor of the South Side parish. (Arthur Walker / Chicago Tribune)
- The Rev. Michael Pfleger is seen in the St. Sabina Catholic Church study in 1981, the year he became pastor of the South Side parish. (Arthur Walker/Chicago Tribune)
1 of 63
Rev. Michael Pfleger, second from left, listens to testimony during the Human Rights, Anti-Authoritarianism, Reparatory, and Restorative (HART) Truth Telling Commission public hearing, at the McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, Jan. 21, 2026, to document and mitigate human-rights harms tied to federal militarization and ICE raids. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
Expand
By Evgenia Anastasakos | eanastasakos@chicagotribune.com | Chicago Tribune
PUBLISHED: | UPDATED:
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
The Rev. Michael Pfleger has been removed from his ministry at St. Sabina Church in Auburn Gresham as the Archdiocese of Chicago investigates a decades-old claim of sexual abuse.
In a letter to the congregation Saturday, Cardinal Blase J. Cupich said the alleged abuse of a minor happened at St. Sabina more than 30 years ago. He said Pfleger has “strongly denied the allegation.”
Pfleger has served as pastor of St. Sabina Church since 1981. In his time there, he gained a reputation for his outspoken advocacy for social justice.
He was previously accused of sexual abuse by three men in 2021 and one in 2022. He vehemently denied the allegations and, after independent investigations, the Archdiocese of Chicago cleared him of wrongdoing.
Cupich said that, in line with the Archdiocese’s child protection policies, the allegation has been reported to law enforcement authorities.
“I want to stress that the welfare of the children entrusted to our care is our paramount concern,” Cupich wrote. “The Archdiocese of Chicago takes all allegations of sexual misconduct seriously.”
In his own statement, shared on Facebook, Pfleger called the allegations “an absolute lie.”
“I believe this is another attempt and another attack by those who have sought to destroy me for years and another attempt by someone to get money from the Archdiocese and to silence me,” he wrote.
