Pope Francis has approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of Fr Michael J. McGivney, who was the founder of the Knights of Columbus. Charlie McCluskey, President of the International Alliance of Catholic Knights said: “It is wonderful news, not only for the Knights of Columbus, but the whole International Alliance of Catholic Knights family, that Fr McGivney is to be beatified this year.”
Father Michael J. McGivney, founded the Knights of Columbus in 1882 in an effort to provide spiritual support to Catholic men and families. Today it is the world’s largest Catholic fraternal organisation with two million members worldwide. Over recent months member of the Knights of Columbus have been donating millions in PPE equipment and ventilators to hospitals during the pandemic.
The pro-life miracle
In 2000, an investigation into a miracle attributed to McGivney’s intercession was completed. However the Vatican ruled that the event was not miraculous in nature.
Now, Pope Francis has now officially recognised a miracle attributed to the intercession of Fr Michael J. McGivney which involved the healing of an unborn child in the United States who was suffering from a life-threatening condition.
It is believed that the family of the unborn child prayed to Fr McGivney and the child was miraculously healed.
This official approvement from Pope Francis will now pave the way for the beatification of Fr Michael McGivney which is expected to take place by the end of 2020.
Prompting Catholic supporters to pray for the intercession of Father Michael McGivney
John Smeaton, SPUC Chief Executive and Knights of Columbus Council 970 member said: “For the past 45 years I have worked for the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), becoming the CEO in 1996. My personal pro-life commitment was very much inspired by my father who, with the support of his brother Knights, lobbied against the legalisation of abortion in Britain in 1967. He took me along with him when he visited our Member of Parliament to ask him to vote against abortion.
“Since SPUC was founded in 1966, the first pro-life organisation to be established in the world, the Knights of St Columba have proved to be the foremost grassroots Catholic pro-life organisation in Britain. The Knights, in particular, have supported the Society’s work – by constantly writing to and visiting local politicians, by helping us to organize and to marshall parliamentary lobbies and mass rallies, and by raising funds and securing support for the Society at the church door throughout the country.
“We will honour the occasion of his beatification later this year by promoting amongst our Catholic supporters prayer to Fr Michael McGivney, interceding with him to help us with his prayers and with the graces earned through his heroic life to stop the complete decriminalisation of abortion in Britain, and to reverse the abortion legislation recently brutally imposed on Northern Ireland by Parliament in Westminster and the British government.”