By Basil L. Merenda • Posted March 27, 2026

The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia could not have made a better choice awarding the 2026 Liberty Medal to Pope Leo XIV.  The award might even awaken the “better angels of our nature” inherent in all of us, as Abraham Lincoln explained.

Indeed, when the pope accepts the medal on July 3 at Independence Mall, his own spirituality and religious dedication, combined with his commitment to social justice and belief in the Lord’s saving grace, will be front and center for our city to see and perhaps even inspire a few folks as he did for me.

The election of Pope Leo, a priest in the Order of St. Augustine, has reinvigorated my faith in the Catholic Church. It’s not just because Pope Leo is an American, a fellow Villanova graduate (Pope Leo is Class of ’77 and I am Class of ’79), and a follower of my favorite saint, the worldly theologian and philosopher St. Augustine.

It’s also because Pope Leo has demonstrated a commitment to carry on the teachings of Catholic social justice, rooted in Scripture and Church tradition, formulated by Pope Leo XIII in his 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum.

The encyclical, which is the most authoritative teaching a pope can issue, signaled his intent to use Catholic social teaching to address the many challenges our troubled country and world experienced at that time and faces today in 2026.

Back in 1891, faced with the rise of a brutish and inequitable industrialized world economy, Pope Leo XIII used Rerum Novarum to proclaim that the Catholic Church must always use its teaching authority to speak out on social issues with a particular preference for the poor, disadvantaged, and vulnerable.

Pope Leo XIII recognized the rights of labor through trade unions and collective bargaining, and he rejected unrestricted capitalism and “Godless” communism-socialism, acknowledging that government is necessary for promoting justice through the protection of these rights.

Over the years, the pope’s successors including the ardent anti-communist pontiff from Poland, St. Pope John Paul II, have developed and advanced these principles in a series of timely encyclicals.

They convincingly demonstrated how Catholic social teaching can be applied to the many economic and social problems faced by our country and the world at that particular point in time.

Folks should know that by taking the name Leo XIV, our Holy Father has sent an unequivocal signal that he wants to follow in the footsteps of Leo XIII, continue the social justice work of Pope Francis and his predecessors, and make the journey of life a little easier and more fulfilling through Catholic social teaching.

Pope Leo XIV understands that Church teachings remind Catholics that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26) and that we are compelled as part of our faith to live a life of service to the country, state, city, neighborhood and our fellow men and women if we truly wish to achieve the “Catholic” understanding of “eternal salvation” with the Lord.

Equally profound is that Pope Leo, as an American, will show non-Catholics and non-believers alike in our country and throughout the world that the principles of Catholic social justice are not mysterious, parochial, or intolerant but are as American as baseball, football and apple pie.

These principles can provide an inspired way to leave our children and grandchildren a fairer and more equitable world, and a vibrant and life-sustaining planet.

When Pope Leo XIV accepts the Liberty Medal in our city on July 3, his message delivered from Rome of hope, spirituality, social justice, religious freedom, and saving grace will be on full display. It may even change a few lives.

That day will truly be a grand celebration of our democracy and Constitution, just as John Adams and the founding fathers envisioned.

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Basil L. Merenda, a lifelong Philadelphian, is the beneficiary of a Catholic education from kindergarten to eighth grade, high school, undergraduate, graduate school and law school. He has spent most of his career practicing in the public service, law enforcement and union labor law. He currently serves as a lector and as a member of the finance council at St. Gabriel Church in Philadelphia’s Grays Ferry neighborhood.