Cardinal Michael Czerny, a Canadian Jesuit of Czech origin and emeritus prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development, will be the first recipient of the Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal, a newly created recognition instituted by Villanova University (Pennsylvania). The announcement was made by the university’s rector, Augustinian Peter Donohue, at a press conference held in the Sala San Pio X in Rome on September 14, according to ACI Prensa.
The Pontiff himself will present the medal on October 13 in a ceremony at the Borgo Laudato Si’, the garden located within the Pontifical Villas of Castel Gandolfo that Francis turned into an ecological training center. The prior general of the Augustinians, Joseph Farrell, was also present at the presentation.
The Pope’s University
Villanova, a Catholic liberal-arts institution governed by the Order of Saint Augustine, is the alma mater of Robert Prevost, who earned his degree in Mathematics there in 1977 and received an honorary doctorate in 2014. The creation of an award named after the reigning Pope by his own university, barely a year and a half after his election, is an unusual gesture and reflects the Augustinian order’s determination to capitalize on the figure of its most illustrious son.
According to its statutes, the medal recognizes individuals who have worked for ecological sustainability. Donohue highlighted Czerny’s “extraordinary passion for justice, human dignity, and care for creation” and stated that “authentic sustainability is never solely about caring for the environment. It also involves accompanying those who suffer, defending the dignity of the human person, and building a future where no one is left behind.”
Czerny Cites “Magnifica Humanitas”
In his acceptance speech, the cardinal referred to the recent encyclical of Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas, to underscore shared responsibility in ecological matters. “The Pope has made the responsibility even more explicit. We are responsible for the world, not only to care for it—although that is part of sustainability—but because, in fact, we are building it,” he affirmed.
Asked by EWTN News about the proliferation of data centers linked to artificial intelligence, Czerny denounced that many companies do not consult local residents before installing these infrastructures. “One must ask whether the people living there will have to pay the price, bear the burden, and suffer the consequences. Were they consulted? Otherwise, it is an imposition and an injustice,” he maintained.
Continuity with the Previous Pontificate
Czerny, created a cardinal by Francis in 2019 without ever having been a residential bishop, was one of the Argentine Pope’s most trusted figures in the social and migratory spheres, and his replacement at the head of the Dicastery for Integral Human Development took place under Leo XIV. That he should be the first recipient of an award bearing the name of the new Pontiff, and that the presentation should take place at the Borgo Laudato Si’, sends a clear signal of continuity with the Bergoglian ecological agenda, at a time when broad sectors of Catholicism expect Leo XIV to strike a greater balance between social doctrine and questions of faith, worship, and morality that have taken a back seat over the past decade.