Pope Leo XIV receives the Liberty Medal in a virtual ceremony hosted by the National Constitution Center and calls on the US to renew its commitment to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.Speaking from Rome, Pope Leo XIV links religious liberty to the First Amendment, praises waves of immigrants for shaping the nation and urges expanded interfaith dialogue.He reiterates Catholic teaching that protects life from conception to natural death, opposes abortion and euthanasia according to Vatican doctrine, and frames those positions as part of a civic moral appeal.Pope Leo XIV says he will spend Independence Day on
Lampedusa to spotlight migrant suffering; the center notes his
Villanova ties and past
Liberty Medal recipients
Volodymyr Zelenskyy,
Ruth Bader Ginsburg,
John Lewis and
John McCain.