Villanova University has created a new international sustainability award that Pope Leo XIV, a 1977 graduate, will personally present in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, in October.

The Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal, announced in a university press release, will be a biennial honor recognizing leaders who have advanced sustainability and ecological responsibility. The inaugural winner is scheduled to be announced in September, with the award ceremony set for Oct. 12–15 at Borgo Laudato Si' in Castel Gandolfo, outside Rome.

For Lower Merion residents, the medal deepens a connection between the local Augustinian university and the Vatican that began when Robert Prevost enrolled at Villanova more than four decades ago.

Pope Leo XIV earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Villanova in 1977. The university also awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2014. He became the first American pope and the first Augustinian friar elected to the papacy when he was chosen on May 8, 2025. As a Villanova student, he worked as a groundskeeper at Saint Denis Cemetery in Havertown, according to NBC Philadelphia.

The medal ceremony will take place during the Villanova International Sustainability Conference, which is expected to draw about 300 participants. Academics, researchers, Church representatives and public and private sector leaders are among those invited. The conference will be split between the Patristicum in Rome and Borgo Laudato Si' in Castel Gandolfo.

Villanova University President the Rev. Peter M. Donohue said the medal "reflects a deeply held belief at Villanova University: that care for our common home and care for one another are inseparable."

The award differs from secular sustainability prizes. Villanova's selection committee, drawn from the university's Sustainability Leadership Council, evaluates nominees on what the university calls "integral ecology," weighing ethical commitments to marginalized communities alongside environmental metrics. Recipients can come from any field.

Cardinal Fabio Baggio, director general of the Laudato Si' Center for Higher Education, a Vatican institution, said the medal honors people whose work connects environmental stewardship with human dignity.

The conference is being developed with Vatican partners including the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. Villanova's Office for Sustainability is leading the effort, alongside the Sustainability Leadership Council, which was established in 2018.

The winner is scheduled to be announced in September. Registration for the October conference remains open.