Top photo caption: Cardinal Michael Czerny, the former prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, attends a news conference at the Vatican Sept. 14, 2026, to announce the 2026 Villanova University International Sustainability Conference, “Responding to the Cries of the Earth and the Poor.” The first Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal — created by the pope’s alma mater, Villanova University — will be awarded to Cardinal Czerny Oct. 13, 2026, by Pope Leo at Borgo Laudato Si’ in the Pontifical Gardens of Castel Gandolfo, Italy, during the onference. OSV News photo/Alessia Giuliani, CPP
By Gina Christian, OSV News
OSV News — The first Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal — created by the Pope’s alma mater, Villanova University — will be awarded to Cardinal Michael Czerny, the former prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
The announcement was made by Villanova University president and Augustinian Father Peter M. Donohue at a Sept. 14 press conference at the Vatican.
Joining Father Donohue and Cardinal Czerny were Manuela Priesemuth-Payan, Villanova’s faculty director of ethics and social responsibility, and conference moderator Alessandro Gisotti, editorial vice director of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication. Also on hand was Augustinian Father Joseph Farrell, prior general of the Augustinian order.
The gathering provided greater detail on the vision for the award — the creation of which was announced by Villanova in July — while highlighting the university’s Oct. 12-15 Villanova International Sustainability Conference in Rome.
Unveiling the medal in July, the university said the nominees for the biennial award had been assessed in a “rigorous” process by members of Villanova’s Sustainability Leadership Council.
The award honors those “whose leadership has advanced sustainability, ecological responsibility and integral human development,” said the university at the time.
Speaking to OSV News in July, Augustinian Father John Abubakar, Villanova University’s chief sustainability officer, said Pope Leo learned of the medal’s creation in May, when the priest advised him in person while in Rome.
“He’s a very humble, simple man,” said Father Abubakar, who has known the future Pope and fellow Augustinian for years. “Once we told him, he simply said, ‘OK, if you think it will help the common good, why not?'”
Pope Leo will present the medal to Cardinal Czerny Oct. 13 at Borgo Laudato Si’ in Castel Gandolfo amid the proceedings of the Villanova sustainability conference, which will focus on “Responding to the Cries of the Earth and the Poor.”
At the Sept. 14 press conference, Cardinal Czerny commended Villanova’s “courage” to publicly support taking “real responsibility for the world that is coming into being” through human activity, Vatican News reported.
The outlet quoted Cardinal Czerny as saying, “That’s not just ecology responsibility, but also responsibility for artificial intelligence and more broadly and deeply … political responsibility, where it is always harder to exercise it.”
The cardinal also pointed to the significance of a U.S. university such as Villanova committing itself to sustainability with an eye to the role its future graduates will play in the world, said Vatican News.
“We dare to offer them an education which claims to prepare them for life. That’s quite an offer,” Vatican News quoted the cardinal as saying. “I feel the meaning of that offer is all the more eloquently expressed by Pope Leo in his encyclical ‘Magnifica Humanitas,’ where he asks what type of world are we building.”
According to Villanova, some 300 academics, researchers, Church representatives, along with public and private sector leaders, are expected at the October sustainability conference. Supporting the gathering along with the university are the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and the Laudato Si’ Center for Higher Education.
Father Donohue said the October conference will work “to move from dialogue to meaningful action,” with Priesemuth-Payan underscoring the interdisciplinary nature of the gathering, according to Vatican News.
Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina
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