The Knights of Columbus got good news from the Vatican May 27 when it announced that Father Michael McGivney, founder of the international fraternal organization, will be beatified.

According to Catholic News Service, Pope Francis has approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of Father McGivney, clearing the way for his beatification. This is required, unless the candidate was martyred for his or her faith. The miracle took place in 2015, when an unborn child “was healed in utero of a life-threatening condition after prayers by his family to Father McGivney,” according to a statement from the Knights.

Father McGivney, an Irish-American priest, founded the Knights in 1882 in New Haven, Connecticut. There now are 1.9 million members worldwide. A date for the beatification ceremony has not been set, but will take place in Connecticut, according to the Knights’ statement.

The news that Father McGivney will be beatified thrilled local Knights, including David Whatmuff of St. Vincent de Paul in Brooklyn Park, who recently was elected as state deputy and will assume the post from Marc Peters July 1. He called the Vatican’s announcement “wonderful news.”

“We’ve been trying to forward the cause for Father McGivney’s canonization for many years,” said Whatmuff, who joined the Knights shortly after becoming Catholic in 1985 while living in Canada. “We’re absolutely delighted.”

The cause for Father McGivney’s canonization took the first step in March 2008 when he was declared “venerable servant of God” by the Holy See. His upcoming beatification ceremony will bestow upon him the title “blessed.” The final step for canonization requires that another miracle be attributed to his intercession, which must take place after beatification. Sainthood causes are handled by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

“Father McGivney has inspired generations of Catholic men to roll up their sleeves and put their faith into action,” said Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, who oversees the organization worldwide, in a statement. “He was decades ahead of his time in giving the laity an important role within the church. Today, his spirit continues to shape the extraordinary charitable work of Knights as they continue to serve those on the margins of society as he served widows and orphans in the 1880s.”

Local Knight Dave DuPaul, Minnesota’s director of religious administration for the Knights and a member of the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, said Father McGivney’s beatification will benefit the organization and help its philanthropic work with Catholic organizations, both locally and around the world.

“It’s going to give us a lot more drive to evangelize in the Church,” he said. “Technically, we are considered the right arm of the Church. We change lives, we save lives, we evangelize the Church. I think this is going to just take us one step closer to bringing more Catholic men into the Church, or (help) those who have been away, to come back.”

That Father McGivney’s beatification comes during the COVID-19 pandemic is good timing, Whatmuff said. The need for the Knights’ donations of food, clothing and money to organizations like the Little Sisters of the Poor is even greater now, he said. And, the recognition that Father McGivney’s beatification will bring should help bolster membership — even more so if he is canonized someday.

“Obviously, it would be a wonderful thing for the Knights to have been founded by a saint,” he said. “Every Catholic man ought to consider being a member of the Knights of Columbus. There are so many benefits.”