Walking Together in Charity

July 1, 2025

The spirituality of St. Augustine, taught and lived by Pope Leo, is echoed in the principles and mission of the Knights

By Supreme Knight Patrick E. Kelly

July 1, 2025

Supreme Knight Patrick E. Kelly (Photo by Michael Collopy)

Pope Leo XIV is the first member of the Order of St. Augustine to be elected pope, and his commitment to the religious order and its charism was evident from the start of his pontificate. After his election on May 8, the Holy Father stepped onto the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica and told the world: “I am an Augustinian, a son of St. Augustine.”

What does this mean for the Knights of Columbus? The short answer is that we have much in common with this son of St. Augustine.

Pope Leo’s entire life has been shaped by the thought of St. Augustine (354-430) and the order named after him. He attended an Augustinian high school and then Villanova, the only Augustinian university in the United States, before entering the novitiate in 1977. From 2002 to 2013, he served as prior general of the worldwide Order of St. Augustine.

The Augustinians’ core values are often described as unity, community and friendship — themes that Blessed Michael McGivney also infused into the Knights of Columbus. And like the Knights, the Augustinians are known for building strong fraternal bonds, so they can then dedicate themselves to works of charity and sacrifice for others, especially the poor and the outcast.

Reflecting on the centrality of unity in Augustine’s thought, then-Cardinal Robert Prevost said in a 2023 interview that “you cannot say you are a follower of Christ without being part of the Church.” Unity and communion, he added, are fundamental to “understanding what the Church is and what it means to be in it.”

For St. Augustine, the Christian life is a team sport. It means never going it alone. We see this in Pope Leo’s choice of an episcopal motto: “In Illo uno unum” — a phrase from St. Augustine’s Exposition on the Psalms: “Although we Christians are many, in the one Christ we are one.”

The Augustinians’ core values are often described as unity, community and friendship — themes that Blessed Michael McGivney also infused into the Knights of Columbus.

Another theme that the Knights of Columbus shares with the Augustinian tradition is the role of friendship — or fraternity — in following Christ. Augustine’s conversion came about, in part, through the influence of his friends. He came to believe that living a Christian life required the daily support of others who could strengthen him in faith. When asked to serve as a bishop, he agreed on the condition that he would live with a community of priests.

St. Augustine is also known for reflecting on the longings of the human heart — especially our desire to love and be loved. In his spiritual autobiography, the Confessions, he writes: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in thee.”

Last month, Pope Leo brought many of these themes home — quite literally to his hometown of Chicago. In a video message to tens of thousands gathered at the White Sox stadium and others watching online, he said we should pay attention to the “restlessness” of our hearts, because it can help lead us to “do something with our own lives to serve others.”

That is how we will find true meaning, he said. “So many people who suffer from different experiences of depression or sadness — they can discover that the love of God is truly healing, that it brings hope,” he added. “Coming together as friends, as brothers and sisters, in community, in a parish, in an experience of living our faith together, we can find that the Lord’s grace, that the love of God can truly heal us, can give us the strength we need, can be the source of hope that we all need in our lives.”

May we, the Knights of Columbus, walk together with Pope Leo and our fellow members of the Body of Christ in the bonds of charity, unity and fraternity — so that we might all follow Christ more closely through lives of humble service.

Vivat Jesus!

Walking Together in Charity

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