Archbishop Lori and Supreme Knight Kelly meet with Pope Leo

Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori and Knights of Columbus Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly met July 4 in a private audience with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican to discuss the work of the order around the world.

Pope Leo already had some awareness of the Knights, through parish experience in Chicago and because his brother is a Knight. “But it was an opportunity to present kind of a comprehensive picture of who the Knights are and what the Knights do and what some of its current initiatives are,” Archbishop Lori, supreme chaplain of the Knights, said via phone from Rome.

He described the conversation as free flowing, with no need for an interpreter, as would have been the case in meetings with Pope Francis. 

Pope Leo “was very engaged,” the archbishop said. “He asked some good questions about aspects of the work of the Knights, particularly the COR program, which is a kind of a men’s formation and evangelization program.”

He said the pope seems to be an active listener, taking in everything and giving ample opportunity for people to speak and then he will engage after that.

A statement from the Knights of Columbus on the social media platform X said, “The Supreme Knight and Supreme Chaplain pledged the order’s loyalty to Pope Leo and promised ongoing prayers and support for his pontificate. They also provided the Holy Father with an overview of the Knights of Columbus, highlighting the order’s charitable activity and men’s faith formation initiatives.”

The two leaders presented the pope a framed archival photo of the launching of LST-286, the tank-landing ship on which Louis Prevost, the pope’s father, served during the D-Day landings in Normandy, France. Archbishop Lori’s father, Francis Lori, also served on an LST during World War II, but in Okinawa, south of mainland Japan.

The Knights leadership also presented two early English editions of works by St. Augustine of Hippo: his famous autobiographical “Confessions” (printed in 1660, London) and “Meditations” (printed in 1728, London), consisting of selections from three Augustinian works of piety: “De meditatione,” “Soliloquies” and “Enchiridion.” Pope Leo is a member of the Augustinian order, which while not founded by him, follows the Rule of St. Augustine, written in the A.D. 400s. The order dates to the 12th and 13th centuries.

Archbishop Lori said he also presented to Pope Leo a copy of a letter from Cardinal James Gibbons, who served as archbishop of Baltimore from 1877 to 1921. The letter to the current pope’s predecessor and namesake, Pope Leo XIII, thanked the pontiff for his 1891 landmark encyclical “Rerum Novarum” (“Of New Things”) on capital and labor. The gift also included a copy of Pope Leo XIII’s reply in Latin to Cardinal Gibbons. 

The archbishop said, “Then I thanked him for his guidance on AI and then presented him with the Maryland bishops’ letter on AI. In in our day, AI is among ‘the new things.’” 

The bishops’ letter, posted online by the Maryland Catholic Conference on the feast of Pentecost, says, “As AI technologies transform our lives, workplaces, relationships and even our sense of identity, the church must be a prophetic voice, calling the world to place the human person, made in the image of God, at the heart of this transformation.”

Archbishop Lori said, “It was a very happy experience to meet with the Holy Father who was very familiar with, first of all, the food, the culture, with idioms, with cultural references” of the United States. 

He added that Pope Leo was generous with his time and very cordial. He thanked the Knights of Columbus for arranging the opportunity for the meeting.

Supreme Knight Kelly introduced his wife Vanessa and two of his daughters to the pope. Archbishop Lori introduced Father Jim Bors, his priest-secretary, to the pope as well.

Email Christopher Gunty at editor@CatholicReview.org

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