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CNA Staff, Aug 9, 2024 / 13:33 pm (CNA).

A consortium of investors is warning major retailers including Walmart and Costco against selling the abortion pill, arguing that it will drive away customers and bring "legal and political risk" to the businesses. 

The letters, distributed earlier this month and signed by more than three dozen investment advisers, fiduciaries, and other financial leaders, urged the retailers to refrain from stocking the abortion-inducing drug mifepristone in their stores. The signatories hold tens of millions of dollars in investments in the named corporations. 

The letters note that the New York City comptroller recently urged the retailers to begin offering the abortion pill, arguing that failing to do so would raise "investor concerns" and would call into question the retailers' "commitment to maximizing sales and long-term shareholder value." New York City's pension system invests heavily in the retailers. 

In their letter, the signatories disputed those claims, calling it "not true." 

The investors argued that stocking the deadly pill would be "legally and politically fraught," that it would raise "significant reputational issues," and that it would "[reduce] the company's customer base, both literally and because it would drive away many existing customers."

The investors noted that the planned distribution of the drug is currently in flux. They pointed to the recent Supreme Court decision in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine; that ruling allowed the abortion pill to remain on the market but only "on procedural grounds," leaving the ultimate legality of the pill still uncertain.

The retailers would "likely" be prohibited from distributing the drug through mail, the letters noted, given current federal law. A total of 14 states, meanwhile, outlaw the drug completely, while another four restrict its distribution, and Louisiana classifies the drug as a controlled substance. 

"Continuing to promote this widespread form of abortion is only likely to generate even more political backlash that reduces market opportunity and increases legal risk," the investors wrote. 

The retailers should "carefully consider the cost of alienating [their] diverse customers and potential customers just to boost one product" in their pharmacies, the letters further argued, while allowing the drug to end the lives of unborn children could also significantly impact future sales. 

"The Brookings Institution recently estimated that the average American family will spend $310,000 to raise a child born in 2015," the signatories said. "This includes over $50,000 in food and $15,000 on clothes, not to mention furniture, other household and health care items, toys and games, or diapers and formula, all things your stores sell." 

Dispensing the abortion drug "will reduce demand for all of these and only make worse the crisis of record-low birth rates," the letters said. 

Uncertainties around the health risks of the pill could further endanger the businesses, the investors said.

"Mifepristone terminates life and does so in ways that the FDA acknowledges risks serious harm to the mother," they said. "Dispensing it is filled with legal and political risk and will inject [retailers] into the middle of an intense political battle at great expense to [their] reputation."

The extensive list of signatories was led by Robert Netzly, the CEO of Inspire Investing, which on its website says it works to "[empower] Christian investors through biblically responsible investing excellence and innovation."

Earlier this year, the company was ranked as one of the top registered investment advisers by USA Today. 

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CNA Staff, Aug 9, 2024 / 14:26 pm (CNA).

Catholic schools will be excluded from Maine's tuition grant program, a Maine district court affirmed on Thursday.  

The court ruled that while the plaintiffs "are raising important legal questions," they are "not entitled to a preliminary injunction," according to the 75-page order.

Maine's tuition program is designed to fund tuition for students in rural areas to attend nearby private or public schools in lieu of the state maintaining its own schools in those areas. Maine also funds tuition for out-of-state and out-of-country schools including schools in Quebec and Massachusetts. 

The program was designed to enable parents to have their children educated at private schools in rural school districts lacking public schools, but in 1982, Maine began disqualifying religious schools for being sectarian.

Though the landmark 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision Carson v. Makin affirmed that the "sectarian exclusion" violates the free exercise clause because it excludes schools on the basis of their religious exercise, Maine instituted another law that more indirectly prevents religious schools from being approved for the tuition program.

One of those religious schools is St. Dominic Academy, a K–12 Catholic school with campuses in Lewiston and Auburn, where Keith and Valori Radonis, organic rural farmers, wanted to send their children. 

After Maine amended the tuition assistance program with a "human rights" law that kept out schools like St. Dominic, the Radonis family, St. Dominic, and the Diocese of Portland turned to religious liberty law firm Becket to combat the law. 

"Maine officials are keeping religious families and schools out in the cold," Adèle Auxier Keim, senior counsel at Becket, said in a statement shared with CNA. "The district court's decision allows the state to continue paying for all-girls boarding schools in Massachusetts while denying benefits to rural families that want to attend St. Dominic, which has been serving Mainers for more than 80 years."

"Maine's new laws block schools that receive tuition funds from allowing any religious expression unless they allow every kind — meaning that a Catholic school like St. Dominic can't have Mass unless it also allows a Baptist revival meeting," the Becket press release from June 2023 explained. 

"It also gives the state's Human Rights Commission — not parents and schools — the final word on how the school teaches students to live out Catholic beliefs regarding marriage, gender, and family life," it continued. "As a result, faith-based schools are still being barred from serving rural families through the program."

The new restrictions are largely viewed on both sides as a way around the Supreme Court decision.

On the day the Supreme Court decided to include religious schools in tuition programs, Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey stated in a press release: "I am terribly disappointed and disheartened by today's decision … I intend to explore … statutory amendments to address the court's decision and ensure that public money is not used to promote discrimination, intolerance, and bigotry."

As evidence of religious targeting, Becket pointed to public social media posts by Maine officials saying that Maine "anticipated the ludicrous decision from the far-right SCOTUS" by amending the tuition program, the Aug. 8 court order noted.  

"We will continue to push back against Maine's transparent efforts to evade Carson v. Makin and make an end run around the Supreme Court," Keim said.

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CNA Staff, Aug 9, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Aug. 9 is the feast day of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, also known as Edith Stein. A convert from Judaism at the age of 30, she later entered the Carmelite order and died in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz in 1942.

St. Teresa Benedicta was a scholar and an intellectual who earned a doctorate before her conversion, which, after years of interest in Christianity, came to fruition after she read the autobiography of St. Teresa of Ávila. She taught at a university before entering the Carmelites and continued to study and teach, completing before her death a study of St. John of the Cross titled "The Science of the Cross." 

Pope John Paul II canonized her in 1998 and proclaimed her a co-patroness of Europe the following year.

St. Teresa Benedicta is not yet a doctor of the Church, but there's an effort underway right now to name her as one. Her order, the Discalced Carmelites, put in an official request to the Vatican in April and has proposed for her the title "doctor veritatis" ("doctor of truth") because of her relentless intellectual pursuit of truth in Jesus Christ. (The co-founder of the Discalced Carmelites, St. John of the Cross, is also a doctor of the Church, as is the saint who had such a profound influence on Stein, St. Teresa of Ávila.)

If St. Teresa Benedicta is named a doctor of the Church, she would join 37 other saints with that title, four of whom are women: St. Teresa of Ávila, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, and St. Hildegard of Bingen. She would also be the second doctor of the Church to be a martyr, after St. Irenaeus of Lyon. 

(Also, if St. Teresa Benedicta were named a doctor of the Church, it would mean that three of the five female doctors would have essentially the same first name.)

What is a doctor of the Church?

The title "doctor of the Church" recognizes those canonized men and women who possessed profound knowledge, were superb teachers, and contributed significantly to the Church's theology.

Traditionally, the title of doctor of the Church has been granted on the basis of three requirements: the manifest holiness of a candidate affirmed by his or her canonization as a saint; the person's eminence in doctrine demonstrated by the leaving behind of a body of teachings that made significant and lasting contributions to the life of the Church; and a formal declaration by the Church, usually by a pope.

The list of more than three dozen doctors of the Church includes some of the most well-known and revered Catholic saints, including St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Francis de Sales, and St. Thomas Aquinas.

Not quite half of the saints revered as doctors in the Catholic Church are also honored in the Orthodox church since they lived before the Great Schism in 1054.

The most recent doctor of the Church to be named was St. Irenaeus of Lyon, with the title "doctor unitatis" ("doctor of unity"), in 2022. Pope Francis had previously in 2015 named as a doctor of the Church St. Gregory of Narek, a 10th-century priest, monk, mystic, and poet beloved among Armenian Christians.

Among Catholics who lived in modern times, there have been calls for St. John Paul II, St. John Henry Newman, and Pope Benedict XVI to be named doctors of the Church — though the late Pope Benedict's sainthood cause has not yet been opened.

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ACI Digital, Aug 9, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The first Family Pride Parade will take place on Saturday, Aug. 10, the day before Father's Day in Brazil, on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro starting at 9 a.m. local time. The parade is an initiative of the National Network in Defense of Life and Family and aims to celebrate the sacredness of the family.

"Defending life from conception to natural death is a fundamental value that all families must protect," Zezé Luz, the founder and executive president of the National Network in Defense of Life and Family, wrote on Facebook, inviting families to take part in the parade dressed in white T-shirts and carrying colorful balloons.

The archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, Cardinal Orani João Tempesta, emphasized in a video that "it is very important for those who seek to be a family, and especially a Christian family, to come together and show the world how we want to live and be." For him, the Family Pride Parade "is our freedom of expression."

According to Zezé Luz, the first Family Pride Parade will be "a peaceful, nonpartisan and supra-religious demonstration" as well as "a moment of unity, prayer, and action" in which people who believe in the family will be able to show their "commitment to the dignity and respect for the life of all children, including the most defenseless."

The parade will also take place on Aug. 17 in other cities in Brazil, such as Brasilia and Florianópolis.

Zezé Luz, is a mother, family counselor, pro-life activist and Catholic singer. In 1986, at age 19, she had an abortion after being raped in her hometown of Campina Grande. After that, she lived with the physical and psychological consequences of her act for about 15 years. In her mission to defend life, from 2004 to the present, she has saved more than 2,000 babies from abortion.

The parade will also take place on Aug. 17 in other cities in Brazil, such as Brasilia and Florianópolis.

This story was first published by ACI Digital, CNA's Portuguese-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by ACI Prensa and CNA.

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 8, 2024 / 17:36 pm (CNA).

A Catholic parish and school in the Diocese of Columbus, Ohio, has fired an employee who was in charge of background checks and sexual abuse awareness training after he was arrested for possessing materials depicting child pornography and abuse.

The employee, John Denzel, 60, worked as the safe environment coordinator for St. Brigid of Kildare, a parish and pre-K through eighth grade school in Dublin, Ohio.

He was arrested by the Union County Sheriff's Office on Aug. 5, according to a report by the sheriff's office.

An official with the Union County Court of Ohio told CNA that Denzel was incarcerated for a short time at the Tri-County Regional Jail and has since been released on his own recognizance.

Denzel, who has been employed by St. Brigid of Kildare since 2017 and has held the position of safe environment coordinator since 2022, was indicted on 15 charges related to possessing child pornography on July 26.

He is facing four charges of pandering sexually oriented matters involving a minor and 11 charges of illegal use of a minor or impaired person in nudity-oriented material or performance.

According to court documents the crimes occurred between July 6, 2022, and Jan. 3, 2023, which falls within the time range Denzel worked for the Diocese of Columbus as the safe environment coordinator.

As safe environment coordinator, Denzel was charged with helping to ensure the parish and school's compliance with diocesan safety policies. He also conducted fingerprint background checks and coordinated the parish and school's "Protecting God's Children" sexual abuse awareness course for volunteers, according to an archived parish webpage. 

Jason Mays, a spokesperson for the Diocese of Columbus, told CNA that the diocese was made aware of the "shocking and reprehensible criminal allegations" against Denzel on Aug. 6, the day after his arrest.

"Upon learning of the indictment against him, his employment was immediately terminated," Mays said, adding that "St. Brigid of Kildare and the Diocese of Columbus administrations are working in full cooperation with local law enforcement as they proceed with a thorough investigation."   

Additionally, Mays said that Columbus Bishop Earl Fernandes "has mandated an immediate evaluation of the hiring and onboarding process of all parish-level safe environment coordinators."

"The Diocese of Columbus stands firm on a zero-tolerance policy that holds all staff and volunteers to a high standard of conduct, no exceptions," Mays added. "The Diocese of Columbus takes child protection seriously and remains vigilant in combating all forms of child abuse." 

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 8, 2024 / 18:06 pm (CNA).

U.S. track star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who broke her own world record and won the gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles event at the Olympics in Paris on Thursday, has often credited her success to God.

After having dominated the competition in the U.S. Olympic trials earlier this year and qualifying for the Paris games, McLaughlin-Levrone shared both her amazement in and gratitude to God.

"Honestly, praise God! I was not expecting that, but he can do anything," she shared at the time. "Anything is possible in Christ. So yeah, I'm just amazed, baffled, and in shock."

McLaughlin-Levrone, a devout Christian who attended Union Catholic High School in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, often references Scripture and gives thanks to God in interviews and across social media.

Sister Percylee Hart, McLaughlin-Levrone's former principal at Union Catholic, spoke with CNA in 2022 about her pride in her former student, stating that the track star had "stepped up to the call to be that instrument for faith on the biggest stage in the world."

"Her spontaneity at the end of her victory when she praised God and gave all the glory to God translates to me that she is God's instrument for being a power for good worldwide," Hart continued. "We are all called to become all God calls us to be, and be good people, and Sydney models that, and affirms that with her messages about faith."

Further sharing her faith life, the three-time Olympic medalist released her memoir in January of this year, titled "Far Beyond Gold: Running from Fear to Faith." Throughout the book, McLaughlin-Levrone details her past experiences of struggling with anxiety and perfection while also highlighting the ways she glorifies God both on and off the track.

"As a Christian, I now existed to glorify God (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Matthew 5:16). At the beginning of 2021, I was learning all the way my life wasn't about me. It was about showing the world God's power, wisdom, kindness, love, and forgiveness," she wrote. "There were a bunch of different ways to do that. Off the track, I could do that by serving others, putting their needs before mine, and being excited when God did a remarkable work in their lives (Philippians 2:3-4)."

McLaughlin-Levrone shared how she glorifies God on the track by "running with all my mind and body," because running "was the gift God gave me to use, and by using it to the best of my ability and humbly redirecting the attention to him, he would be glorified."

Citing the movie "Chariots of Fire," which tells the story of Christian sprinter Eric Liddell, McLaughlin-Levrone also acknowledged how "[God] takes pleasure in us doing what we were made for. And win, lose, or draw, to run the race well is to glorify him."

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Vatican City, Aug 8, 2024 / 11:34 am (CNA).

The Vatican has approved devotion at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Good Health in Vailankanni, India, the site of reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary in the 16th century.  

One month before the Sept. 8 feast day of Our Lady of Good Health in India, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) confirmed in a letter to Bishop Sagayaraj Thamburaj of Thanjavur that the action of God is present at the shrine.

"Through the centuries, Mary has continued to act in this place," DDF prefect Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández wrote. "The millions of pilgrims who travel here out of faith, and the many spiritual fruits that are produced at this shrine, make us recognize the constant action of the Holy Spirit in this place.

According to a Thanjavur tourism website, approximately 20 million pilgrims from India and abroad visit the shrine each year, 3 million of whom visit during the 11-day festival held Aug. 29 to Sept. 8 in honor of Our Lady of Good Health. 

Devotion to Our Lady of Good Health began in the late 16th century following three different oral accounts of the apparition of the Virgin Mary in Vailankanni, a town in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. 

The first apparition account of the Virgin Mary acknowledged by the DDF is that of a local shepherd boy who, upon seeing the beautiful woman, offered the milk he was carrying with him for the child in her arms.

"This was an expression of the generosity of those who are willing to give something to others, in their own poverty. You do not need to have much in order to be generous. May this call to share, to assist, to be close to those who need us always resonate in this place," the Aug. 1 letter reads. 

The DDF also specifically recognized the account of Portuguese merchant sailors who landed safely in Vailankanni after a violent storm at sea on Sept. 8, 1650. That day, which was also the feast of the Nativity of Mary, the sailors vowed to build a church in thanksgiving to Our Lady of Good Health.

More than 300 years after the construction of the original church, St. John XXIII raised the Marian shrine to the status of basilica on Nov. 3, 1962.

In 2002, Pope John Paul II celebrated the annual World Day of the Sick at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Good Health.

In the letter to the bishop of Thanjavur, Fernández said Pope Francis "extends his paternal blessings to all pilgrims" ahead of the shrine's Sept. 8 feast day. 

"The Holy Father cares a lot about the popular piety of the faithful pilgrims, because they reflect the beauty of the Church on the move, which seeks Jesus in the arms of Mary and entrusts its pain and hope to the heart of his mother," Fernández wrote.

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CNA Staff, Aug 8, 2024 / 13:26 pm (CNA).

A priest arrested for possession of child pornography and accused of multiple other sex crimes is being held in Texas on a massive bond as police reportedly fear he may flee the United States amid the charges. 

Police arrested Father Anthony Odiong in Florida last month. The Waco Police Department said in a Facebook post that officers arrested Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with help from the U.S. Marshals Service. 

Waco police said that in March they had received "credible information" regarding a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. During the subsequent investigation, "a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered," the police said. 

Odiong was extradited to Texas this week to face child porn charges as well as sex abuse charges in McLennan County, which is located in the Diocese of Austin. The 55-year-old priest reportedly waived a challenge to extradition after his Florida arrest. 

The accused clergyman is being held on a $2.5 million bond, according to local Waco news station KWTX. 

Arrest warrants reportedly show that police fear Odiong has "access to immense amounts of money, contacts with money who follow him and provide heavily through financial means, and access to passports and multiple avenues to flee the country."

Waco police reportedly said in an affidavit that after his arrest Odiong "received phone calls in jail from supporters who told him that regardless of the cost, his release from jail on bail will be facilitated," the Texas news network said. 

Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed from his pastorship in December of last year amid controversy over homilies in which he alleged among other things that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays."

At that time the priest was also facing allegations of abusive behavior; a Louisiana woman had alleged in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. 

In Texas, meanwhile, nearly 10 women have reportedly come forward with accusations of sexual abuse against Odiong. The alleged assaults allegedly occurred between 2007 and 2023. 

Austin Bishop Joe Vásquez said in a letter to his diocese last month that the allegations against Odiong were "disturbing and truly sad." 

The diocese "will fully cooperate with local law enforcement as they investigate these allegations," the bishop said. 

It is unclear, meanwhile, why Odiong was in Florida at the time of his arrest last month. 

The Diocese of Venice in Florida told local news station WBBH last month that Odiong had "no association" with the Florida diocese.

"He has never been granted permission to celebrate Mass within the diocese, nor was he ever given faculties to function as a priest here in any way," the diocese said, adding that officials were "not aware of Father Odiong's presence in Ave Maria, Florida" until news broke of his arrest. 

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 8, 2024 / 13:56 pm (CNA).

Here's a roundup of pro-life-related developments in the U.S. this week. 

New York Planned Parenthood scales back abortion

Planned Parenthood of Greater New York (PPGNY) announced on Wednesday that "amid compounding financial and political challenges" it will stop offering abortions after 20 weeks.

The abortion giant also announced a proposed closure of four locations in Goshen, Amsterdam, Cobleskill, and Staten Island.

Among the reasons cited by the abortion business was a state budget that "fell short of responding to the needs of sexual and reproductive health care providers."

Other reasons listed were growing operating expenses, unreliable insurer reimbursements, ongoing pandemic recovery, and a "hostile political landscape."

The pause on abortions past 20 weeks will go into effect on Sept. 3. It is temporary, according to the announcement. Planned Parenthood said that it "simply cannot afford" the deep sedation pain management services necessary for late-term abortions.

Planned Parenthood said that it is "fully committed to resuming procedural abortion later in pregnancy in the near future."

Wendy Stark, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater New York, said the abortion business is "in the difficult position of navigating financial challenges that are part of the overarching health care crisis in the United States."

She said PPGNY will "continue to make long-term investments in our future and for reproductive freedom by advocating for higher reimbursement rates from Medicaid and private insurers."

Abortion is currently legal in New York through all nine months of pregnancy.

Arizona Supreme Court to decide if abortion amendment is too misleading

Arizona Judge Melissa Julian at the Maricopa County Superior Court this week rejected an attempt to invalidate a broad abortion amendment set to be on the November ballot.

Arizona Right to Life (AZRTL) has said it will appeal the ruling to the Arizona Supreme Court, meaning the state's high court will have the final say on whether the abortion amendment will be included on the ballot.

The pro-life group is suing to have the amendment removed from the ballot, arguing that the language used in the proposal is "misleading" and fails to provide an adequate explanation of what the amendment would do if passed.

AZRTL is also arguing that Arizona for Abortion Access, the group that gathered the 823,685 signatures to have the amendment added to the ballot, misled signees about what the amendment would do.

The group claims that it has received "many texts and calls" from people who "wanted to retract their signatures" after learning that the amendment would enshrine a right to abortion both before and after fetal viability.

This comes as the Arizona Supreme Court issued a separate order on Aug. 5 to delay until Sept. 23 the enforcement of the state's law protecting life from conception.

The Arizona Supreme Court is also set to rule on Arizona for Abortion Access' request to remove the term "unborn human being" from the state-approved amendment explainer.

If passed, the Arizona abortion amendment would ban state laws protecting unborn life before viability or after viability if determined necessary to protect the life or health of the mother. Abortion is currently legal in Arizona until 15 weeks of pregnancy.

1 in 5 abortions administered through telehealth

A new report by the pro-abortion Society of Family Planning found that nearly 1 in 5 abortions are administered via remote telehealth appointments and mail-order abortion pills.

The report said that despite several states enacting pro-life laws, the overall national monthly abortion volume has increased. This rise has been spurred in part by a continued increase in telehealth abortions.

The report said that in the most recent months in the study period, October through December 2023, there was a national average of nearly 17,000 telehealth abortions per month, with 5,800 occurring in states with laws protecting life at conception or six weeks and 2,000 occurring in states with restrictions on telehealth abortion.

South Dakota Supreme Court allows challenge to abortion amendment to proceed

The Supreme Court of South Dakota reversed a lower court's ruling to allow a challenge to a broad abortion amendment to proceed.

Judge John Pekas of the Second Judicial Circuit Court of South Dakota had dismissed the lawsuit, which was brought on by a pro-life group called Life Defense Fund. 

However, after the Life Defense Fund appealed, the state Supreme Court brought new life to the suit by reversing the dismissal and sending the case back to lower court for further proceedings.

South Dakota currently protects unborn life starting at conception and allows abortion only when the mother's life is at risk. 

If passed, the amendment would change the state constitution to ban any restrictions on abortion if the mother's life or health is in danger as well as ban any restrictions in the first trimester and most restrictions in the second trimester.

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CNA Staff, Aug 8, 2024 / 14:46 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis sent a message of support to the Knights of Columbus annual convention taking place in Quebec, Canada, this week, expressing his "profound gratitude" to the Catholic fraternal group for its "concrete witness to the faith that works through love."

In the letter sent on the pope's behalf by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Francis said the Knights' theme for this year's annual convention, "On Mission," is close to his heart and a good reminder that every Christian is called to be a missionary "to the extent that he or she has encountered the love of God in Christ Jesus."

The men's charitable group, founded by Blessed Michael McGivney, "from its origins, has devoted great attention to the formation of its members as men of faith and family," the pope said. 

"Over the generations, the Knights have worked for the strengthening of family life through programs of catechesis and spiritual growth, borne public witness to the centrality of the family as the fundamental cell of society, and supported a variety of initiatives to support families in their indispensable social and educational mission," he continued, mentioning in a special way the Knights' "Cor" initiative aimed at deepening the faith of Catholic men. 

"This historic commitment has included a particular concern for passing on the faith to new generations, instilling sound values and accompanying the young in their growth to maturity as men and women of integrity, wisdom, and service to the communities in which they live."

Supreme Knight Patrick E. Kelly announced at the meeting that the Knights, which now claims over 2 million members worldwide, spent more than 47 million hours "serving and sacrificing for the sake of others" and set a new record for charitable giving last year at $190 million.

"Together with the charitable activities of its local councils worldwide, your order continues to give outstanding support and encouragement to efforts to defend God's gift of life at every stage of its development, to uphold the dignity of the institution of marriage, and to advance the mission of the Church in developing countries," the pope wrote. 

The pope also praised the Knights' efforts at rebuilding and restoring Christian communities in the Middle East devastated by persecution as well as efforts to help the poor affected by the war in Ukraine. As of earlier this year, the Knights say they have raised $22 million and delivered 7.7 million pounds of supplies to victims of the ongoing war.

He also mentioned the group's "impressive witness" to faith in Christ through its recent promotion of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, a nationwide effort from May to July to walk a collective 6,500 miles with the Eucharist and inviting tens of thousands of Catholics to participate along the way. The pilgrimage culminated at the National Eucharistic Congress in mid-July.

The restoration of the historic baldacchino above the altar at St. Peter's Basilica is underway, funded by the Knights, the pope noted. The restoration of the baldacchino is being done to coincide with the start of the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope.

"His Holiness prays that the graces of the Holy Year will be poured out in abundance on the Knights and their families as they strive to fulfill their baptismal mission to be a leaven of peace and holiness in our human family, weary of war and yearning for the peace that only Christ can give," the pope wrote. 

The pontiff concluded by entrusting the Knights to the maternal protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary and said he "cordially imparts to the Knights and their families his blessing as a pledge of joy and peace in the Lord."

The Knights' 142nd Supreme Convention closed today with Mass and a final business session.

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