Pope’s Alma Mater to Name First Sustainability Medal Winner Next Week

Villanova University, the Pennsylvania alma mater of the first American-born pope, will announce on Monday the inaugural recipient of a new international award created in his name and focused on environmental and social justice.

The Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal, established by the Augustinian Catholic university in 2026, honors individuals whose leadership integrates care for the environment, social justice, protection of vulnerable communities and responsible economic stewardship. Officials describe it as distinct from purely technical environmental prizes because it emphasizes “integral ecology” — the Catholic teaching that the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor are inseparable.

A press conference is scheduled for Monday, September 14, from noon to 1:30 p.m. CEST in the Vatican’s Sala San Pio X. Speakers will include Cardinal Michael Czerny, SJ, prefect emeritus of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development; the Rev. Peter M. Donohue, OSA, president of Villanova; and Manuela Priesemuth-Payan, faculty director for ethics and social responsibility at Villanova’s School of Business. The session will be moderated by Alessandro Gisotti of the Dicastery for Communication.

During the event, university and Holy See representatives will reveal both the medal’s vision and the identity of its first laureate. The winner was chosen through a rigorous evaluation by Villanova’s Sustainability Leadership Council. The award will be presented every two years during the university’s International Sustainability Conference.

Pope Leo XIV himself is scheduled to confer the medal on October 13 at Borgo Laudato Si’ in the Pontifical Gardens of Castel Gandolfo. The ceremony forms the centerpiece of the 2026 Villanova University International Sustainability Conference, titled “Responding to the Cries of the Earth and the Poor.” The gathering, supported by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and the Laudato Si’ Center for Higher Education, is expected to draw about 300 academics, researchers, Church officials, foundation leaders and public- and private-sector figures to Rome from October 12 to 15.

Participants will meet first at the Augustinianum in Rome before traveling to Castel Gandolfo for the award presentation and a visit to Borgo Laudato Si’. The Borgo, established on the grounds of the former papal summer residence and inspired by Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’, serves as a living laboratory for integral ecology, combining education, regenerative agriculture, circular-economy practices and inclusion of marginalized people.
The medal itself is cast in bronze with 18-karat gold plating by Wendall August Forge, a Pennsylvania artisan company with long ties to Villanova. One side features an image of Pope Leo XIV; the reverse carries the university’s name, the papal seal, the recipient’s name and the presentation date.

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Villanova’s connection to the pontiff is personal and historic. Born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago on September 14, 1955, he earned a Bachelor of Science in mathematics from the university in 1977. The school later awarded him an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree in 2014. As the first U.S.-born pope and the first from the Order of Saint Augustine, Leo XIV has continued the Church’s emphasis on ecological responsibility while deepening the university’s links to the Vatican.

University President Father Donohue has said the medal embodies Villanova’s conviction that “care for our common home and care for one another are inseparable.” By recognizing leaders who advance both environmental stewardship and the common good, organizers hope the award will inspire concrete collaboration on the intertwined challenges of ecological degradation and social inequality.

The September 14 announcement will mark the public launch of what Villanova intends as an enduring biennial recognition of holistic sustainability leadership on the global stage.