The head of the Knights of Columbus says Catholic voters have a duty to oppose candidates who support abortion rights and restrictions on the Church's religious freedom.

The admonition by Supreme Knight Carl Anderson came in response to the Obama administration's mandate requiring employers include birth control in their workers' health care coverage.

He said it's wrong for government to force employers to provide coverage for drugs and treatments they consider immoral.

"The political choices faced by citizens may affect the individual's salvation," Anderson warned.

Pope Benedict XVI commended the order on their stance.

"By defending the right of all religious believers, as individual citizens and in their institutions, to work responsibly in shaping a democratic society inspired by their deepest beliefs, values, and aspiration, your Order has proudly lived up to the high religious and patriotic principles which inspired its founding," the pontiff said.