Most of the students receive scholarships at the East Harlem Catholic school Pope Francis will visit Friday, and now, the Archdiocese of New York says thousands of additional students will have the opportunity to attend parochial schools thanks to a very large donation. NY1's Lindsey Christ filed this report.

It's the largest gift in the 207-year history of the Archdiocese of New York: $40 million dollars for scholarships to Catholic schools. 

It's coming from an unlikely source: Jewish billionaire financier Stephen A. Schwarzman.

Schwarzman says he's been impressed with how low-income students succeed academically in the Catholic school system. 

"They graduate, they go to colleges, they change their lives. They're going to be great citizens," Schwarzman said.

For his wife Christine, the gift is personal. 

"Everything I need to know in my life I learned as a student in Catholic school," said attorney and philanthropist Christine Schwarzman.

And while her husband says he was motivated by the opportunity to give needy kids a better shot at economic mobility, she reminded him of another reason. 

"Christine said we like the moral values,"  Stephen A. Schwarzman said.

"I feel that's really true. As my husband said, there are now other educational institutions and school programs that also do a very good job," Christine Schwarzman said.

Those other educational institutions include charter schools, which have received millions from other billionaires, like Paul Tudor Jones and John Paulson. But the Schwarzmans remain loyal to the Catholic system, which has suffered in recent years as the number of free charter schools has soared.

When Cardinal Timothy Dolan announced the gift, he said the Archdiocese plans to match it, as well as raise an additional $55 million. Starting next fall, they expect the new endowment to provide nearly 3,000 new scholarships a year.  

"This is the day the lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. You've probably heard that prayer before, it's an ancient Jewish and an ancient Christian prayer," Dolan said.

He went on to say it's a very special week, not just because Pope Francis is visiting, but because many New Yorkers will be observing Yom Kippur.