Cardinal says he'll personally work on cause of Knights' founder

Published: 2007-08-07

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (CNS) -- Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the second highest ranking official at the Vatican, told members of the Knights of Columbus that he is taking a personal interest in the beatification process for the order's founder, Father Michael McGivney. "I hope this recognition (of sanctity) will arrive soon, and I'll personally work on this, so that this day will come soon," Cardinal Bertone said during his homily, delivered in Italian, at the Aug. 7 opening Mass of the Knights of Columbus' 125th annual national convention at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville. Cardinal Bertone's comments on the sainthood cause of Father McGivney were met with applause from the Knights attending the Mass. "I was thrilled," Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., the supreme chaplain of the Knights of Columbus, said of Cardinal Bertone's comments. "I think he appreciates what it would mean for parish priests in the United States and around the world, to have one of their own canonized a saint," Bishop Lori said in an interview on Eternal Word Television Network. Father McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus at St. Mary's Church in New Haven, Conn., in 1882.

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