Pope Leo XIV praises US immigrant history in rebuke to Trump

Pope Leo XIV used his first major address to the United States to praise the country’s history of welcoming immigrants and to urge Americans to live up to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence as he accepted the National Constitution Center’s 38th annual Liberty Medal by video from the Vatican.

The ceremony took place Friday on Independence Mall in Philadelphia, on the eve of the nation’s 250th anniversary of independence. The center said the medal recognized Leo’s work promoting religious liberty, freedom of conscience and expression, and human dignity, placing the first American pope at the center of a milestone that marks the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.

Leo, born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago, was elected pope on May 8, 2025, at age 69. In his address, he tied the award to the founding documents of the United States and the long argument over who is included in the promise of liberty. The Vatican text of the speech said he was honored to accept the medal in the year marking the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States and the Declaration’s signing.

The Philadelphia ceremony was moved indoors because of extreme heat, and both the National Constitution Center and Villanova University said Leo would speak by video rather than in person. Some Trump administration observers had expected him to appear at Fourth of July celebrations, but the United States was not on his 2026 overseas itinerary, a reminder that his travel plans were pointing elsewhere even as he addressed American political life.

That other destination was Lampedusa, the Italian island long associated with migrant arrivals and deaths at sea. On July 4, 2026, Leo was set to make a pastoral visit there that included greeting migrants, blessing a plaque dedicating the pier to Pope Francis, and celebrating Holy Mass. Vatican News described the trip as a symbolic continuation of Francis’s 2013 visit to the island and a call to reject indifference toward migrants and refugees.

The pairing of Philadelphia and Lampedusa sharpened the contrast in Leo’s public message: one stop at the symbolic birthplace of American independence, the other at a Mediterranean gateway to migration. In both places, his focus stayed on liberty, conscience and the dignity of people moving across borders in search of safety and belonging.