Leo XIV for the 250th anniversary of US Independence: “America has grown by opening its doors to migrants”

The Pope’s speech

“Over these last two hundred and fifty years, for so many people around the world, it has been the steadfast determination to realize the noble vision of the nation’s founding fathers that has made America synonymous with freedom, while the country opened its doors to successive waves of immigrants, allowing them and their children to help shape the nation’s future” he said in one of the passages of his speech on the occasion of accepting the Liberty Medal of the ‘National Constitutional Center’ in the virtual connection with Philadelphia.

“It was precisely this love of freedom that inspired the United States, in the darkest hours of the last century, at the time of the two world wars, to look beyond itself and, at the cost of great sacrifices, to defend the cause of freedom beyond its borders”, he observed in his speech.

America remains faithful to the founding fathers’ vision of freedom, the Pope warned. “As every American knows, however,” Leone observed, “the path to building a society that embodies those high ideals of freedom and justice for all has not always been easy and, in many respects, is still ongoing. In fact, the effort to realize this vision must be undertaken anew in each generation and in the face of ever new challenges” he noted. “Today, as we look to the future, this historic anniversary offers us the opportunity to reflect once again on the nation’s founding principles, in the hope that America will always remain true to the dream that has earned it the title of land of the free and home of the brave.”

“The principles that inspired America’s founding fathers, rooted in the truth of the human person, united them in a single cause, in a common dream. Unity gave strength to that dream, giving rise, with God’s help, to the United States of America. E pluribus unum – out of many, one. For a nation to prosper, it must be truly united; united not by goals tied to momentary exploits, but by ideals that do not fade with the passage of time.” “May the principles we reflected on today – shared human dignity, equality and the rights enshrined in the Declaration of Independence – always be a source of such unity and guiding light for the present and for years to come,” the hope.

“As a son of this great nation, founded by courageous men and women who dreamed of freedom and a better life for themselves and their children, I join you in asking God’s blessing on America’s future, so that the high ideals enshrined at the beginning of the Declaration of Independence will continue to guide the prosperity of the nation in unity, justice and peace” conclude.