In-plant Donates 350,000 Booklets for Pope Francis Visit

In preparation for Pope Francis’ visit to Philadelphia last weekend, the Knights of Columbus in-plant in New Haven, Conn., printed some 350,000 programs and prayer cards for the Papal Mass—and the organization is not accepting payment for this work, according to the Hartford Courant.

As the world's largest Catholic fraternal service organization, the Knights of Columbus performs charitable work both locally and internationally, and provides support to the Catholic church. The last time a job of such importance was printed at the in-plant was when Pope John Paul II visited the United States in 1995.

"It's the largest print job of this type that anybody can remember," commented Stephen Feiler to the Hartford Courant. Feiler is assistant to the organization's supreme knight. "We're very proud of it," he told the newspaper.

The 25-page Papal Mass booklet has a full-color painting of Jesus, Mary and Joseph on the cover, and text in five languages, including English, Greek, Spanish, Latin and Vietnamese, the paper reported. Feiler told reporters that he worked with about five proofreaders to edit the prayers and music.

In total, the job is valued at more than $100,000, the paper revealed. However, by donating their time and resources, organization officials told the Hartford Courant that they were showing a "gesture of solidarity with Pope Francis."