In addition to sponsoring three mobile television production units since 1985, the most recent this year, the Knights of Columbus has a long history in support of Vatican Social Communications efforts.

In 1974, 10 years after the Vatican joined International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT), the Vatican’s social communication office, headed by then Archbishop Andrzej Maria Deskur, contacted the Knights of Columbus to seek support for a significant expansion of televised Masses.

The next year (1975), with the Knight’s sponsorship, the Vatican began a regular yearly telecast schedule to cover the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass, the Stations of the Cross from the Coliseum on Good Friday, Easter Sunday Mass and a special ceremony that would be determined each year.

Since that time, the Order has covered the up-link costs to send the signal to the satellite and, in certain circumstances for developing countries, the down-link cost to receive that signal and distribute it through a television system.

The support of Vatican media was not a new direction for the Knights of Columbus. Previously, in 1965, the Knights had donated a shortwave transmitter to Vatican Radio.

As the years went on, the work continued to expand. With the Knights’ support, the number of countries that received satellite transmissions grew to 35 in 1985 and then to 47 in 2006. Also in 2006, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson was appointed a consultor to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.

Both in 1985 and again in 1995, the Knights donated a mobile production van to Centro Televisivo Vaticano.

In 2009, the broadcast platform changed from INTELSAT to Eurovision World Feed, which improved services to large areas of the globe, decreased up-link costs and made down-link costs nearly obsolete. With these cost savings, yearly worldwide coverage was expanded to include the Jan. 1 Mass for the World Day of Peace. European and North American coverage was also expanded to include Palm Sunday Mass and all Holy Week events.

Some of the most notable events broadcast over the years include:

Most recently, in 2010, the Knights contributed to the outfitting of a mobile unit with recording and transmitting equipment to enable Vatican Television to broadcast in high definition.