“...And now, much as Saturday’s stunning launch of Blase Cupich as George’s successor is the sign of a markedly different time, the move’s lineage stayed eerily intact.
According to ops appraised of the process, the principal Stateside force behind the nod was Boston’s Cardinal Seán O’Malley OFM Cap., now Pope Francis’ chief North American adviser as the continent’s lone member of the pontiff’s “Gang of Nine.” The coordinator of the reform group, Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga – clearly impressed with Cupich’s June turn after his own in Washington – is said to have joined the early push for the Spokane prelate, which was reportedly agreed to by Francis’ lead American on the Congregation for Bishops, the capital’s Cardinal Donald Wuerl. (Beyond the committee work of the USCCB, Cupich and Wuerl would likewise have solid ties through the National Catholic Education Association, whose board the former currently chairs. Given Chicago’s boast of the nation’s largest diocesan school system, several major Catholic universities – including the US’ largest, the Vincentian-run DePaul – as well as two immensely influential graduate centers at Mundelein and the Catholic Theological Union, the confluence of that local context and the choice is a significant aspect which should not be underestimated.)
From the outset of the process, it was made clear that the Pope was driven to “own” his selection for the nation’s third-largest diocese, quite possibly the only one Francis will be able to make in the US church’s topmost rank. The way things have panned out, he’s done precisely that...”
http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/2014/09/in-chicagos-wake-riding-wave.html
Cupich was an alternate, obviously thrown in to placate the Gang of Nine. The others in the list were all orthodox, and it was the Pope and his henchmen who picked Cupich.