Pope Leo XIV has officially accepted the 2026 Liberty Medal from the U.S. National Constitution Center, honoring his lifelong commitment to promoting religious liberty and freedom of conscience and expression worldwide. The Pope addressed attendees in Philadelphia from Rome, ahead of the 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding.In April, a delegation from the National Constitution Center traveled to the Vatican for a private audience to present Pope Leo XIV with the 2026 Liberty Medal.
The award recognizes his work advancing religious freedom and freedom of conscience and expression — principles central to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.Three months later, on Friday, the Pope formally accepted the 38th Liberty Medal and delivered a speech reflecting on America’s founding values and their relevance today. “As a son of this great country, founded by courageous men and women who dreamed of liberty and of a better life for themselves and for their children, I join you in asking God’s blessings upon America’s future, that the lofty ideals enshrined at the beginning of the Declaration of Independence may continue to guide the flourishing of the nation in unity, justice and peace,” he said.
The National Constitution Center’s annual Liberty Medal honors men and women of courage and conviction who work to secure liberty for people around the globe. Pope Leo said he was honored to accept the award in this historic year marking 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.Offering a warm greeting, the Holy Father recalled the Declaration’s words on inalienable rights. “From our youth, most of us have admired the eloquence of those words, with their resounding appeal to the law of nature and to nature’s God as the basis of their assertion that all men and women are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, including the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” he said.“While couched in the language of the Enlightenment,” he explained, “that claim is ultimately grounded in an understanding of the human person inspired by the great biblical vision of man and woman being created in the divine image.” It is there, he added, “that we discover the basis of human dignity; dignity which precedes the establishment of any State, and whose custody constitutes its very purpose.”
Pope Leo said the founders’ resolve to achieve their noble vision made America “a byword for freedom,” as the nation welcomed successive waves of immigrants who helped shape its future. That same love of freedom, he noted, led the United States “in the darkest hours of the last century, during the two world wars, to look beyond itself and, at great sacrifice, champion the cause of freedom beyond its own borders.”Yet, the Pope continued, “the path to building a society embodying those high ideals of liberty and justice for all was not always easy and, in many respects, remains a work in progress that must be taken up anew in each generation and in the face of ever new challenges.”He concluded by praying that the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States would be an occasion for a solemn recommitment to the fundamental ideals on which the country was founded, especially life and freedom.