Pope urges US to recommit to founding ideas of protecting life, human dignity on 250th anniversary

ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV prayed Friday for the United States to recommit itself to its founding ideals of protecting life and human dignity as he participated remotely in an event on the eve of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

History’s first U.S.-born pope recalled America’s tradition of welcoming migrants and promoting religious freedom during a live video appearance at the National Constitution Center, which provides a nonpartisan platform for constitutional education and debate.

The Philadelphia-based center gave Leo its annual Liberty Medal, which is awarded each year to someone “of courage and conviction” who promotes liberty around the world. The center honored Leo this year for his “lifelong work promoting religious liberty and freedom of conscience and expression around the world — ideals enshrined by America’s founders in the First Amendment.”

Wearing the medal around his neck, Leo spoke to the center from Rome on the eve of the anniversary. He planned to spend July 4 itself at a symbolically significant location, given the Trump administration’s crackdown on migrants: the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, the destination of hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing conflict, hardship and poverty.

Trump and Leo have clashed over Leo’s insistence that migrants be treated with dignity, welcomed and accompanied, as called for by the Gospel mandate to “welcome the stranger.”

Leo referred to America’s foundation by “courageous men and women who dreamed of liberty and of a better life for themselves and for their children,” in asserting that all men and women are created equal and enjoy certain unalienable rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

He referred to migrants in recalling the “noble vision” of the Founding Fathers that had made America “a byword for freedom, as the country opened its doors to successive waves of immigrants, enabling them and their children to play their part in shaping the future of the nation.”

He also recalled the founding ideal enshrining the right to life in the Declaration of Independence, in asserting that every man and woman enjoys human dignity, and must be protected from conception until natural death – Vatican terminology opposing abortion and euthanasia.

“The moral greatness of a nation is manifested, above all, in its capacity to support, protect and cherish the lives of all, especially the most vulnerable and those whose worth is questioned,” he said.

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The Chicago-born Leo prayed that the ideals that founded America of a shared human dignity, equality and fundamental rights may be a “guiding light” now and in the future.

May this year’s 250th anniversary “be the occasion of a solemn recommitment to these ideals that have made America a country that values peace and prosperity, a country characterized by generosity and nobility of heart,” he said.

Past recipients of the Liberty Medal include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and U.S. Rep. John Lewis, the late civil rights leader.

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.