Knights announce novena for intention of the Holy Father

The Knights of Columbus today announced a novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for the Intention of our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV. The novena will begin tomorrow, June 19, the anniversary of Pope Leo XIV’s anniversary to the priesthood, and end June 27, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart. Please click here to obtain the novena prayers. You may also sign up and submit your own prayer intentions, which Knights of Columbus Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly will bring to Rome later this Jubilee Year. 
 
“Our Holy Father can count on the loyalty and prayers of the Knights of Columbus — now and always,” said Supreme Knight Kelly. “In solidarity with him, I invite all Knights, their families, and people of goodwill to join in this special novena for the pope and his intentions, as we support the Church’s mission of evangelization through our works of charity and faith formation.” 
 
The novena coincides with the 350^th anniversary this month of when St. Margaret Mary Alacoque received the last of several private revelations from Jesus, in which he reminded her repeatedly of his boundless love for all. In one of the apparitions, Our Lord told her: “Behold this Heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming itself, in order to testify its love.” Following her visions, devotion to Jesus’ Sacred Heart gained popularity throughout the Church, and images of the Sacred Heart remain beloved by Catholics around the world.
 
Participants in the novena are also invited to enthrone an image of the Sacred Heart in their homes. Resources for families are available for download and purchase at shopcatholicinfo.com.
 
In January, the Knights of Columbus also launched its new Pilgrim Icon of the Sacred Heart of Jesus during a Holy Hour organized by San Salvador Council No. 1 and held at the birthplace of the Knights of Columbus, St. Mary’s Church in New Haven. During the prayer service, an icon depicting the most famous image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, painted by Pompeo Batoni in 1767 and now venerated in the Church of the Gesù in Rome, was displayed. This reproduction of the original image is one of more than 300 icons, each bearing the Apostolic Blessing of His Holiness Pope Francis, which are now traveling around the world as part of the Knights of Columbus Pilgrim Icon Program.
 
For more than 45 years, the Knights’ Pilgrim Icon Program has enabled more than 23 million people to honor Our Lord, Our Lady, and the saints through 191,000 prayer services featuring icons of different subjects, such as Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Holy Family, and St. Joseph. The Sacred Heart of Jesus icon is the 20th icon venerated through the program since 1979.