Catholic Knights of Columbus Top List of 'World's Most Ethical Companies' for Second Consecutive Year
The Knights of Columbus, a notable Roman Catholic fraternal organization, has received the honor of being listed as one of the world's most ethical companies in 2015 by the Ethisphere Institute.
Ethisphere listed the Knights under the category of "Insurance: Life" along with three other American companies: Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, Prudential Financial and The Principal Financial Group.
A spokesperson with Ethisphere told The Christian Post that this was "the second consecutive year that Knights of Columbus has been honored."
Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, head of the Knights, said in a statement released Monday that his organization's mission is "protecting the financial future of Catholic families and providing charity to those on the margins of society."
"That founding principle of helping those in need is at work in every aspect of our business, guiding our corporate governance, our professional agency force, our investments, and our day-to-day business operations," Anderson said. "It is this continued commitment to our foundational, Catholic principles that is the key to our ethical, sustainable and successful business model."
Released Monday, the Ethisphere Institute's list of the world's most ethical companies included 132 businesses from 21 different countries.
"The world's most ethical companies is a distinction that honors superior achievement in transparency, integrity, ethics and compliance," stated Ethisphere.
Other honorees included GE, Google, The Hershey Company, National Australia Bank, PepsiCo, SingTel, and Wipro Limited.
"The Knights of Columbus is the world's largest Catholic fraternal organization, present in 15,000 councils around the world," the Catholic News Agency reports. "Because of their charitable work across the globe, the Ethisphere Institute considers this year's recognition as a sign of their commitment to positively impact society, making them one of the leading ethical stakeholders globally."
