The Leo Effect: 25 New Million-Dollar Donors

Following on my previous post about Popes, Dollars and Wars, I note that just today, Saturday, an important American Catholic philanthropy group, The Papal Foundation, has had their first audience with Pope Leo XIV. Among other notable things, the Foundation says that since Leo’s election last year, they have 25 new “Steward” families which requires a donation of at least one million dollars for membership or as the Foundation discreetly puts it on their website “a seven or eight-figure gift” to begin, plus “additional giving opportunities” in subsequent years. David Savage, Executive Director of The Papal Foundation, told me that in the previous two years they had added 13 new Stewards. This year, since Leo’s election, that number has jumped to 25. “The momentum has been building over several years and we are excited at this new level of commitment to sharing Christ’s love with a world in need through the work of the Church and the Holy Father,” Savage said. Pope Leo arriving in the …