In Solidarity With His Holiness Pope Leo XIV

Substitute for Resolutions 2, 6, 17, 23,
44, 47, 64, 74, 81, 84, 110, 125, 129,
132, 139, 145, 155, 163, 171, 180, 192,
200, 207, 213, 225, 230, 236, 245, 255,
261, 267, 275, 280, 290, 300, 318, 330,
333, and 344

WHEREAS, the Knights of Columbus has stood in solidarity with the Vicar of Christ and Successor of Peter since its founding and provided such spiritual, material, and temporal support that the Order is often referred to as the “strong right arm of the Church;” and

WHEREAS, at the prompting of Pope Benedict XV, the first pope to receive the Knights of Columbus leadership in private audience, the Order established playgrounds in the City of Rome to serve youth following the devastation of World War I; and

WHEREAS, for more than 100 years, the Order has responded to the Holy Father’s proclamation of extraordinary and ordinary jubilee years, often providing the material support for repairs of Vatican City and St. Peter’s Basilica, including the recent restorations of Gianlorenzo Bernini’s Baldacchino and Altar of the Chair monument in the Basilica in preparation for the Jubilee Year 2025, which Pope Leo XIV called a “visible sign” of the Order’s, “continued devotion to the Vicar of Christ;” and

WHEREAS, since 1981, the Order has donated the proceeds of its Vicarius Christi Fund to the Holy Father for his personal charities — donations totaling $72,788,400 over the last 45 years; and

WHEREAS, only months into his papacy, Pope Leo XIV offered a video message to our 143rd Supreme Convention in Washington, D.C., saying, “I commend your efforts to bring together men in your communities for prayer, formation, and fraternity, as well as the many charitable efforts of your local Councils throughout the world;” and

WHEREAS, in his video message to this 144th Supreme Convention, the Holy Father applauded the Order’s commitment to our second principle of unity and encouraged all Knights “to continue bearing witness” to this virtue to be “prophets of harmony who seek to build bridges,” especially through charity which “develops a certain concord between those who give and those who receive, as well as among those who work together to assist their brothers and sisters;” and

WHEREAS, in October 2025, Pope Leo XIV received the Board of Directors in a private audience during which the Holy Father reiterated his heartfelt appreciation for our work “to bring the compassion and love of the Lord into [our] local communities;” and

WHEREAS, the Order’s principles of charity, unity, and fraternity found clear expression in Pope Leo’s first encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, in which the Holy Father reminds all the faithful that “justice is born from, and fulfilled in, fraternity, because the way we approach and relate to the least among us becomes, in concrete terms, the measure of our relationship with God and with our brothers and sisters” (77); and

WHEREAS, in recognition of the Order’s solidarity with Pope Leo XIV, the 144th Supreme Convention gathered in Denver, Colorado, under the theme, In Illo uno unum (“In the One, we are one”), which is the Holy Father’s papal motto taken from St. Augustine and which is a beautiful Christological expression of the Order’s second principle of unity.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Knights of Columbus remains in steadfast solidarity with His Holiness Pope Leo XIV who is the Vicar of Christ on Earth, the Successor of Peter, and the Servant of the Servants of God; and

FURTHER RESOLVED, that we reiterate the sentiments expressed earlier this year by Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly that the Order has always stood in solidarity with the Holy Father, recognizing in him a spiritual father who calls the world not to division, but to unity, not to conflict, but to peace; and

FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Order recommits itself to standing as the “strong right arm of the Church” in service to the Holy Father and his call for a charity and fraternity that evangelizes all of God’s people.