Where Is the Outrage? A Response to the Knights of Columbus

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I have read Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly’s statement of yesterday carefully. Several times. I wanted to be fair.

I cannot be.

The Knights of Columbus was founded in 1882 by Blessed Michael McGivney to defend the faith and stand with the Church in moments of crisis. For over 140 years the Knights have prided themselves on their fidelity to the Holy Father and their willingness to stand in the breach when the Church is under attack.

This was their moment. They failed it.

In fairness to Supreme Knight Kelly, I present his statement in full:

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In recent days, many Catholics and other people of goodwill have been deeply disappointed by the disparaging comments directed at Pope Leo XIV by the President of the United States. The Successor of Saint Peter is not a politician — he is the Vicar of Christ, entrusted with proclaiming the Gospel and shepherding souls.

The Knights of Columbus has always stood in solidarity with the Holy Father, recognizing in him a spiritual father who calls the world not to division, but to unity, not to conflict, but to peace. In this moment, we reaffirm that commitment with clarity and conviction.

At the same time, we recognize that faithful Catholics can and do engage vigorously in the public square, and that nations have a right and duty to safeguard the security of their own people — always in accordance with the demands of justice and the pursuit of peace. The Church does not ask Catholics to withdraw from civic life, but to engage with and elevate it — bringing to our civic dialogue the light of truth, respect for the dignity of every human person, and a steadfast concern for the common good.

Pope Leo XIV has consistently called for peace, dialogue, and restraint in a world marked by war and suffering. The Holy Father’s words are not political talking points — they are reflections of the Gospel itself. Whether one agrees or disagrees with particular policy judgments, the Holy Father’s prophetic voice deserves to be heard with respect and engaged seriously.

As Knights, we are called to be men of unity, as followers of Christ and patriotic citizens. I encourage all Knights of Columbus to pray for the Holy Father, to pray for civic leaders, and to pray for peace and those working to achieve it. And let us recommit ourselves to charity in our public discourse. May we be known not for echoing the divisions of our time, but for healing them. In a moment of tension, the path forward is not louder conflict, but deeper fidelity — to truth, to charity, and to the Gospel.

— Patrick Kelly, Supreme Knight, Knights of Columbus

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I have read it several times. I wanted to find in it what the moment required.

It is not there.

Let us be precise about what happened. The President of the United States — on his personal social media platform, in his own words — called the Vicar of Christ weak on crime, declared him terrible for foreign policy, said he preferred the pope’s brother because “Louis is all MAGA,” claimed personal credit for a papal conclave guided by the Holy Spirit, and told the successor of Peter to “get his act together.”

And the Supreme Knight’s response is to remind us that “faithful Catholics can and do engage vigorously in the public square” and that “nations have a right and duty to safeguard the security of their own people.”

I’m sorry — what?

Let us pause for a moment and conduct a simple thought experiment. Imagine that Barack Obama — or Joe Biden, or any Democratic president — had posted on social media that the pope was weak on crime, terrible for foreign policy, and that he preferred the pope’s brother because the brother supported his political agenda. Imagine a Democratic president claiming personal credit for a papal conclave. Imagine him telling the Vicar of Christ to “get his act together.”

The Knights of Columbus would not have issued a carefully hedged statement calling for prayer and dialogue. There would have been an eruption of holy fury — emergency press releases, full-throated condemnations, demands for public apology, calls for political consequences. Every resource of the largest Catholic lay organization in the world would have been mobilized within the hour. Of that I have absolutely no doubt.

But it was not a Democrat. And so we get measured words about civic engagement and the pursuit of peace.

The selective silence is not a coincidence. It is a choice. And it reveals, more plainly than any argument I could construct, exactly where the true loyalties of this organization lie.

This statement is not a defense of the Holy Father. It is a diplomatic genuflection in the direction of the White House dressed up as Catholic principle. It is the verbal equivalent of a son watching a bully knock his father to the ground, then turning to the crowd and inviting everyone to remember that reasonable people can disagree, and that the bully, too, is made in the image and likeness of God.

Supreme Knight Kelly tells us the Holy Father’s words “deserve to be heard with respect and engaged seriously.” With respect — the president of the United States did not fail to engage the pope seriously. He mocked him. He demeaned him. He claimed to have installed him. Those are not policy disagreements requiring thoughtful dialogue. They are an assault on the Petrine office itself, and they required one thing from the largest Catholic lay organization in the world: unequivocal condemnation.

Instead we received careful balance. Studied neutrality. A call to prayer and charity and healing division — directed, apparently, equally at the pope’s defender and the pope’s attacker.

I say what follows not with sadness but with the clarity that comes from long observation:

The Knights of Columbus have for years demonstrated a selective engagement with Catholic social teaching — narrowly focused on abortion to the exclusion of the full spectrum of life issues, and conspicuously silent when those whose politics they favor have acted contrary to the faith they profess to defend.

An organization that cannot say the words “what the president did was wrong” — not imprudent, not disappointing, not unhelpful, but wrong — in the face of the most outrageous attack on a reigning pope by an American president in history, has allowed its political calculations to override its Catholic convictions. Full stop!

The full spectrum of Catholic social teaching encompasses peace, the dignity of immigrants, the protection of civilians in war, and the sacred obligation to stand with the Holy Father when he is under attack. These are life issues. All of them. A truly pro-life organization would have said so this week — loudly, clearly, and without diplomatic hedging.

Father McGivney did not found the Knights of Columbus to walk fine lines. He founded them to stand up.

This was the moment to stand up. The statement from Supreme Knight Kelly, for all its carefully chosen words, sits down.

Monsignor Arthur Holquin, S.T.L. Retired Catholic Priest, Diocese of Orange Retired Rector, Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano