In Service to Rome

Sept. 1, 2020

A century of charity in the Eternal City began with a historic Knights of Columbus pilgrimage

By Columbia staff

Sept. 1, 2020

Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, the Knights of Columbus Board of Directors and support staff are pictured after Mass at the same location Feb. 10, 2020. The Mass was preceded by a private audience with Pope Francis, during which the Holy Father reflected on the centennial of the Order’s charitable activity in Rome. (Photo by Tamino Petelinšek)

Speaking to a K of C delegation on pilgrimage to Rome 100 years ago, Pope Benedict XV said, “Knights of Columbus, you have done great things — you are destined to do still greater.”

The group of 235 Knights met with the Holy Father on Aug. 28, 1920, followed by a private papal Mass the next day. The Knights, led by Supreme Knight James Flaherty, processed into the papal audience in faultless formalwear, but the event was much more than a formality. In fact, it turned out to be a pivotal moment in the Order’s relationship with the Vatican, inaugurating a century of service and collaboration.

“The Knights of Columbus, besides being a magnificent example to their brethren in the faith, are also the best of citizens,” Pope Benedict XV stated. “Truly they deserve to be honored with the name of ‘sKnights,’ a name which, in the Middle Ages, was the hallmark of an institution among whose aims were respect for and defense of the Church, care and love for the weak and poor.”

Noting that the Order had offered to extend its charitable work to Rome, Benedict XV presented a problem that the Knights were equipped to solve. Catholic children, the pope said, were being drawn toward non-Catholic groups through the sports programs they offered. He urged the Knights to make their presence felt in Rome so as to counter this anti- Catholic “propaganda, which to our sorrow we see so widely spread in this dear city.”

Here, the pope added, “is another field of competition before you.”

It did not take long for the Knights to respond. Between 1922 and 1927, the Order built five recreation centers in the Eternal City. A sixth facility opened in 1952, and all but one of the “playgrounds,” which include soccer fields, gyms and chapels, continue to operate today. The Order donated the property of St. Peter’s Oratory, which was also used as a relief center during and after World War II, to the Holy See in 1965, for the site of a new papal audience hall adjacent to St. Peter’s Basilica.

Indeed, the Order’s practical and effective response to Pope Benedict XV’s request for assistance was the first of many initiatives in service to the Vatican. For more than 50 years, the Supreme Council has supported the Holy See’s communications efforts, from a shortwave transmitter for Vatican Radio in 1966 to livestreamed broadcasts today. Since the 1980s, the Order has likewise sponsored a series of restorations in collaboration with the Fabbrica di San Pietro, from the façade of St. Peter’s Basilica to the preservation of invaluable sacred art.

In recent decades, the Knights of Columbus has also sponsored many papal events and initiatives, such as pastoral visits of Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, and various World Youth Day activities since 1993. And since the Order established the Vicarius Christi Fund in 1981, it has generated more than $60 million for the pope’s personal charities.

This past February, in anticipation of the centenary of the Knights’ presence in Rome, the Knights of Columbus Board of Directors visited the Vatican and met and prayed with Pope Francis.

“As an organization of Catholic men, we are proud to have been of service to Your Holiness, and to each successor of St. Peter since 1920,” Supreme Knight Carl Anderson said in remarks to Pope Francis Feb. 10. “The Knights of Columbus, now 2 million strong, pledge our continued support of the Church — locally in our parishes, and universally through our assistance to the Holy See.”

A Holy Names sister instructs students at St. Mary’s Academy & College in Portland, Ore., circa 1915.

In Service to Rome

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