Apr 19, 2006 / 22:00 pm
In celebration of the one year anniversary of Benedict XVI’s election to Pope last spring, the world’s 1.7 million Knights of Columbus have adopted a resolution declaring their esteem and renewed support for the German pontiff.
The April 9th resolution was formally adopted by Knight’s Board of Directors at the group’s Connecticut headquarters.
It praises the Pope’s “devoted pastoral leadership and commitment to evangelization,” and also laud’s Benedict’s first encyclical, Deus Caritas est, calling the document “a source of wisdom and inspiration to the entire Church, and especially to the Knights of Columbus, which counts charity as its first principle.”
The Knights also pledged their “loyalty, prayerful solidarity and continued cooperation with [the Pope’s] pastoral programs to renew and grow the Church.”
Supreme Knight Carl Anderson said yesterday that “With more than 135 million hours and $63 million donated to charity last year by its members, the Knights of Columbus has and will continue to answer the Pope’s call for ‘charitable activity [that] can and should embrace all people and all needs.’”
The full text of the new resolution may be viewed online at the Knights of Columbus website, www.kofc.org.