Pope Leo XIV Praises Becket Fund for Defending Religious Liberty as a Cornerstone of Justice
Pope Leo XIV recently issued a message to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty during their annual Canterbury Medal Gala in Philadelphia. The Pope described religious freedom as the essential cornerstone of any just society and a vital component for protecting human dignity. He commended the organization for its three decades of work in safeguarding the conscience and faith practices of individuals. Furthermore, the Pope linked these fundamental rights to the upcoming 250th anniversary of the United States, emphasizing that society's moral duty is to protect the capacity for truth. His message serves as a strong endorsement of the legal efforts to uphold religious liberty across the nation.
4 months ago
Pope Leo XIV lauded the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty at its 2026 Canterbury Medal Gala, declaring religious freedom “the cornerstone of any just society” and tying the work of the organization to the United States’ founding ideals as the nation marks its 250th anniversary. 1
The Holy Father’s letter, read by Archbishop Nelson Pérez in Philadelphia, praised the Fund’s “great efforts to defend” religious liberty and emphasized that safeguarding the ability to act according to conscience protects the “invulnerable dignity of the human person.” 2
He highlighted the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence as an expression of the innate dignity of every person, created in God’s image, and urged that individuals and governments recognize their moral duty to uphold this right. 3
Leo stressed that the capacity to know truth creates a moral obligation to protect religious freedom, warning that failure to do so would “gravely impede the flourishing of the human person” and undermine societal integrity. 2
The Pope linked the defense of religious liberty to the broader American story, noting that the First Amendment’s “free exercise” clause reflects the nation’s foundational commitment to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 1
At the gala, the Becket Fund presented its highest honor, the Canterbury Medal, to longtime board chairman William P. “Bill” Mumma, recognizing his leadership in advancing the Fund’s mission. 3
Mumma, a former CEO of Mitsubishi UFJ Securities, recalled that “religious liberty has to be defended” and urged renewed commitment to the cause. 1
Becket President and CEO Mark Rienzi affirmed that religious freedom lies at the heart of the American narrative, enabling diverse beliefs to coexist peacefully for the past 250 years and looking forward to the next quarter‑century. 3
The Pope’s address underscored the timing of the gala, noting that the United States’ upcoming 250th anniversary makes the defense of religious liberty especially significant as the nation reflects on its founding principles. 2*
Religious liberty is the cornerstone of a just society
Religious liberty is “the cornerstone of a just society” because, in Catholic teaching, the human person has a real right grounded in dignity to seek and profess religious truth without coercion—and when that freedom is denied, societies lose the moral conditions needed for peace, reconciliation, and genuine public trust.
Pope Leo XIV explicitly links religious freedom to justice by arguing that it safeguards the moral space in which conscience may be formed and exercised. In his framing, religious freedom is not a decorative policy; it is a foundational condition that makes authentic reconciliation possible.
When religious liberty is denied, he describes a social chain reaction: “trust gives way to fear, suspicion replaces dialogue, and oppression breeds violence.” This diagnosis matters because Catholic social thought treats justice not merely as procedural fairness, but as the preservation of conditions in which persons can respond freely to truth—especially in matters that touch God and conscience.
He also quotes Pope Francis: “there can be no peace without freedom of religion, freedom of thought, freedom of expression and respect for the views of others.” So, in Catholic framing, religious liberty is structurally tied to peace, not only to individual comfort.
The Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on Religious Freedom, Dignitatis Humanae, defines the right in a specific way: religious freedom means immunity from coercion by individuals, social groups, or any human power—so that no one is forced to act contrary to his or her beliefs, privately or publicly, “within due limits.”
It is therefore a freedom from external compulsion, not a freedom from all moral obligations. The Council also notes that the social nature of the person requires external expression of internal religious acts—sharing with others and professing religion in community—and that denying this free exercise injures the human person and God’s order for human life, while still respecting “just public order.”
A crucial point follows: the Council teaches that government should not presume to command or inhibit religious acts, because these acts “transcend by their very nature the order of terrestrial and temporal affairs.”
Catholic teaching does not reduce religious freedom to indifference toward truth. Instead, it insists that the state must not treat religion as something it can administratively regulate by coercion as though it were simply another public preference. At the same time, the person has a real moral duty to seek truth—especially religious truth—and to adhere to it once known.
This is why some Catholic theological discussions emphasize that the “negative” aspect (freedom from coercion) is still rooted in a deeper “positive” orientation: the person’s relation to God and other persons.
Dignitatis Humanae grounds the right in the dignity of the human person, known through revealed truth and reason. The person is a being with reason and free will, therefore capable of bearing responsibility.
Even more directly, the Council states a theological axiom: the response of faith must be free—no one is to be forced to embrace Christian faith against his or her will. Since faith is of its nature a free act, coercion in matters religious must be excluded.
This is the doctrinal logic behind “cornerstone”: if faith and conscience require freedom, then any society that systematically coerces religious belief undermines not only the rights of individuals, but the possibility of genuinely free moral and spiritual life within the common good.
A Catholic reading of religious freedom is neither anarchic nor absolutist. The Council says the right must be recognized “in the constitutional law whereby society is governed,” becoming a civil right, but it continues to exist even for those who do not live up to their obligations—provided just public order is observed.
On the practical side, one interpretive point emphasized in Catholic theological scholarship is that government may sometimes regulate injurious religious acts insofar as they are genuinely harmful to the common good (for example, dishonesty, abuse, or public disruption). But government still may not presume to command or inhibit acts that are religious in their proper sense.
This yields a balanced principle for civil life:
Because Dignitatis Humanae speaks precisely about coercion in civil society, many misunderstand its intent. Some read it as if it had replaced the Church’s moral teaching. But Catholic clarifications stress that the Council’s concern is with civil liberty—freedom from external coercion—and that this does not undo “traditional Catholic teaching” about the obligations of persons and societies toward the true religion and the one Church of Christ.
Similarly, scholarly interpretation notes a temptation to treat the right as purely negative (merely blocking interference). The critique offered is that the right’s negative form must still be understood from the human person’s positive relation to God and others.
That matters for justice in the real world: a just society protects religious freedom without demanding conformity to a secular ideology, and it does so in a way that respects truth-seeking as a human good—precisely what Pope Leo XIV calls the “moral space” for conscience.
The claim that religious liberty is a cornerstone of a just society follows from a consistent Catholic chain of principles: faith must be free, the person’s dignity grounds a real right to immunity from coercion, and public authorities must safeguard this right while respecting just public order. When religious freedom collapses, the social fabric fractures into fear, distrust, and violence—so peace and justice require religious liberty as a structural condition.