Pope Leo XIV raised eyebrows last month when it was confirmed that he had declined an invitation from President Trump to visit the United States for the 250th anniversary of American independence, and would be spending July 4 on Lampedusa, an Italian island known for migrant crossings.
But it turns out that Leo, the first pontiff born in the United States, will make an appearance in his home country after all — virtually.
The National Constitution Center announced Monday that it will award its annual Liberty Medal to Leo, in honor of what it described as 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 to the U.S. Constitution.”
Instead of accepting in person in Philadelphia, Leo will give an address via video link at an outdoor public ceremony on July 3 in front of the center, which faces Independence Hall, where the Declaration was adopted on July 4, 1776.
Vince Stango, the center’s interim president and chief executive, said that the group’s board had wanted a special winner for the 250th year, one who embodied the nation’s founding ideals, in particular the commitment to religious freedom. Talks with the Vatican, he said, began last fall.
“Pope Leo, as the first American pope, was our first choice,” he said. “We are feeling grateful and fortunate that it worked out.”
The event is being jointly organized with the city of Philadelphia and the nonprofit group Welcome America. Stango said there will also be participation from Villanova University, a local Catholic institution where the pope, then Robert Prevost, received an undergraduate degree in mathematics in 1977.
Stango said planning was in the early stages, but he expected Leo to give an address of 10 to 15 minutes. And while the pope is the leader of the Roman Catholic church, Stango said, the event “will encompass other faith leaders and other religions as part of the overall story we are going to tell.”
Philadelphia, a major center at the 1976 Bicentennial, has said it is expecting 1.5 million visitors over the holiday, with crowds bolstered by a World Cup elimination game to be held in the city on July 4.
In addition to multiple festivals, concerts and exhibitions, there have been proposals for a special Congressional session at Independence Hall, as well as speculations about President Trump’s plans. (The White House has not confirmed a visit.)
The virtual papal appearance may also add to the growing political charge around the Semiquincentennial, particularly given Leo’s criticisms of those who support “the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States” and of what he called a “diplomacy based on force.”
Last May, during a visit to the Vatican, Vice President JD Vance handed the pope an invitation from President Trump to visit the United States for the commemoration. A Vatican video of the meeting showed Leo smiling and putting it aside.
In February, the Vatican announced that the pope would be spending July 4 on Lampedusa. In a video message last year, Leo praised volunteers on the island for bringing “the smile and the attention of a human face to people who have survived in a desperate journey of hope.”
For the 250th, President Trump has announced his own signature events, including an Ultimate Fighting Championship fight on the White House Lawn, a Grand Prix Race on the streets of Washington and a patriotic Great American State Fair on the National Mall.
At least one event announced by President Trump will have an explicitly religious theme. Rededicate 250, described as “a national jubilee of prayer, praise and thanksgiving,” which will celebrate “the extraordinary story of how God has powerfully and wondrously shaped the United States of America.”
President Trump’s events will be organized by Freedom 250, a group he created in December, which operates separately from America250, the nonpartisan group designated by Congress to lead national planning for the anniversary. Last week, the Trump Organization also applied for a “Trump 250” trademark, to be potentially used on stickers, sporting equipment and other products.
The National Constitution Center was chartered by Congress in 1988, with the mission to “disseminate information about the U.S. Constitution on a nonpartisan basis.” It operates as a private nonprofit, Stango said, and receives no federal funding.
Asked about the challenges of being nonpartisan, Stango, who became interim leader earlier this year after the abrupt departure of its longtime leader, the legal analyst Jeffrey Rosen, noted the rigor of its programs, like a recently opened permanent exhibit called “America’s Founding.”
He also pointed to the political diversity of past winners of the Liberty Medal, who have included Nelson Mandela, Michael Gorbachev, Sandra Day O’Connor, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Muhammad Ali and Volodymyr Zelensky.
The key to remaining trusted by a wide swath of the public, he said, is staying focused on the nation’s founding documents and ideals.
“It can be a hard needle to thread at times,” he said. “But we take that very seriously.”
Jennifer Schuessler is a reporter for the Culture section of The Times who covers intellectual life and the world of ideas.
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