Leo XIV to personally present ‘Sustainability Medal’ for scandalous university

(LifeSiteNews) — Leo XIV will personally present the inaugural Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal on October 13 at a scandal-plagued Villanova University conference.

The “Catholic” Augustinian university, which officially promotes gender ideology, announced the new award named after alumnus Robert Prevost with a July 20 press release. The conference, “Responding to the Cries of the Earth and the Poor,” will take place at the Borgo Laudato Si’ garden in Castel Gandolfo, the pope’s summer residence. 

According to the university’s president, Father Peter M. Donohue, OSA, Ph.D., “The Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal reflects a deeply held belief at Villanova University: that care for our common home and care for one another are inseparable. By recognizing leaders whose work advances both environmental stewardship and the common good, we hope to inspire meaningful and lasting impact in communities around the world.”

Fr. Donohue presided as president over the Augustinian university during its continued departure from the Catholic faith:

• In 2023, Villanova hosted a lecture by Naomi Washington-Leapheart, a lesbian LGBT activist and adjunct professor in Villanova’s Theology and Religious Studies department, on “the end of white Christian America.” She has stated that she can only remain a Christian by imagining “Jesus is Black and queer.” 
• The university has hosted performances of The Vagina Monologues, a play repeatedly condemned by bishops for its explicit and degrading content.
  
• In 2022, Villanova issued a “Gender Inclusive Practices Guide” that instructs faculty and staff to use preferred pronouns and avoid binary language, effectively embedding transgender ideology into university life.

Pope Leo XIV’s decision to personally present an award created by Villanova University in his name represents a troubling endorsement of an institution that has spent years undermining Catholic teaching on human sexuality. His decision comes as no surprise to LifeSiteNews readers. Giving papal legitimacy to an institution whose record stands in direct opposition to the Church’s teaching is reminiscent of his meeting with Father James Martin.

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John-Henry is the co-founder and CEO of LifeSiteNews.com. He and his wife Dianne have eight children and they live in the Ottawa Valley in Ontario, Canada.

He has spoken at conferences and retreats, and appeared on radio and television throughout the world. John-Henry founded the Rome Life Forum, an annual strategy meeting for life, faith and family leaders worldwide. He is a board member of the John Paul II Academy for Human Life and the Family. He is a consultant to Canada’s largest pro-life organization Campaign Life Coalition, and serves on the executive of the Ontario branch of the organization. He has run three times for political office in the province of Ontario representing the Family Coalition Party.

John-Henry earned an MA from the University of Toronto in School and Child Clinical Psychology and an Honours BA from York University in Psychology.