Pope Francis on Thursday met with Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of
the Knights of Columbus, who presented the pope with a $1.6 million
donation and also discussed his organization’s efforts on behalf of
persecuted Christians in the Middle East.
The Knights of Columbus have played a lead role in raising
consciousness about the realities of anti-Christian violence around the
world.
Among other things, a report prepared by the Knights was
instrumental in triggering a finding from the U.S. State Department in
March 2016 that Christians, Yazidis and other minorities are the victims
of an ISIS-led genocide in Iraq and Syria.
The Knights of Columbus, the largest Catholic fraternal organization in the world, are also the primary partner of Crux.
The $1.6 million donation presented by Anderson to Pope Francis comes
from the group’s “Vicarius Christi” fund, given annually to the pope to
support his personal charities.
Since its inception in 1981, the fund
has donated more than $57 million to support the charitable activities
of three popes, St. John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and now Francis.
The Knights of Columbus were founded in 1882 by Father Michael
McGivney, a parish priest, in New Haven, Connecticut, who is now a
candidate for sainthood.
The organization was formed to provide charitable outreach and care
for the financial well-being of Catholic families, focusing on the
protection of widows and orphans, and on strengthening the faith of its
members.
It has grown to count 1.9 million members worldwide.
Last year, the Knights of Columbus reported a new all-time
record for charitable giving with more than $175 million in donations
and more than 73.5 million hours of service.
Anderson’s audience was part of a busy morning for the pontiff, who
also received Italian Cardinal Beniamino Stella, prefect of the
Congregation for Clergy; Cardinal LluÃs MartÃnez Sistach, the archbishop
emeritus of Barcelona in Spain; Cardinal Antonio Maria Vegliò, the
president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Refugees,
which has been absorbed into the Vatican’s new Dicastery for Integral
Human Development; and a delegation from Special Olympics International.