At the request of several bishops and college presidents, the Holy Father personally greeted Patrick J. Reilly, president and founder of The Cardinal Newman Society, who was part a small group of Catholics from around the world given the opportunity to meet the Holy Father. Reilly presented The Newman Guide to Pope Benedict, which he reviewed briefly and with apparent interest and gratitude.

"Holy Father, The Cardinal Newman Society is grateful to you for your vision for Catholic higher education," Reilly said. "We ask for your blessing on these faithful Catholic colleges and universities, and on The Cardinal Newman Society." As the Holy Father looked briefly at the guide, Reilly repeated that the profiled institutions are very faithful to the Church.

The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College was published by The Cardinal Newman Society in 2007 to help Catholic families select colleges and universities that are strongly faithful to the Catholic Church while providing an excellent liberal arts education. The second edition will be published in late summer 2009. The Guide is edited by Joseph Esposito, Director of the Center for the Study of Catholic Higher Education, the research division of The Cardinal Newman Society.

At least three institutions recommended in The Newman Guide were represented at today's papal audience. They include Christendom College students and pilgrims with college president Dr. Timothy O'Donnell; John Paul the Great University students and president Dr. Derry Connolly; and representatives from The Catholic University of America.

Reilly is in Rome to meet with Vatican officials to discuss Catholic higher education and the renewal of Catholic identity and fidelity on Catholic campuses.

While in Rome, Reilly is observing the Vatican studies programs of Christendom College and the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts. He is also researching opportunities for lay undergraduate students from the United States to study at Rome's pontifical universities.

During the papal audience, Reilly was pleased to greet the Holy Father alongside Jeanne Punderson, a Cardinal Newman Society member whose visit to Rome is a 90th birthday gift of her son, Monsignor Joseph Punderson of the Supreme Tribunal of the Signatora Apostolica.