As we celebrate the Fourth of July, we celebrate the foundation of what our great nation is all about. That foundation is about the freedom that every human person possesses as made in the image and likeness of God. As the Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776, so clearly affirms, “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
The United States came into existence as a land where immigrant men and women came in order to practice their faith in freedom. Over 150 years after the arrival of the original pilgrims to this land, the Declaration of Independence affirmed what was the intention of the pilgrims who arrived here. The history of our country is rather a short one in terms of the history of the world. However, in it’s almost 250 years of existence, our nation has always thrived in terms of difficult challenges, presented to the freedom of all men and women who come here. It has become the most prosperous, resourceful, and influential nation of the world. Freedom and faith are at the core of who we are, which has led to our tremendous development.
As we celebrate our nation this year, we also celebrate that for the first time in its rather brief history, an American citizen has become the Pope. Pope XIV, born in Chicago, Illinois, was elected by the college of Cardinals this past May to be the Shepherd of the Universal Church. It has always been a strong improbability that someone from the United States would become Pope and this probability was still present at the time when the Conclave began this year. Many reasons, including the powerful position of the United States, it unique position within the world, it’s lack of understanding of Europe and the third world, the inability of its citizens to speak foreign languages and the small number of its Cardinals eligible for the office, made it most unlikely that someone from the United States would be elected. However, this year did not hold true in the election of Cardinal Robert Prevost who truly represents the best of what this nation is all about. We are rightly proud of this man as leader of the Church among the leaders of the world.
Two of the many qualities of the life of Pope Leo XIV, which mark him as a citizen of the United States are precisely his freedom to practice his Catholic faith here in the United States and his immigrant background. Obviously, Pope Leo is a man of great faith coming from a Catholic family, which was able to practice its faith in this great nation. He grew up as a Catholic in Chicago and, despite anti-Catholic sentiment at times within our nation, was able to be the man of Catholic faith that he is. As a nation, founded on the principle of religious freedom, we can never underestimate the challenges that are always present in regard to the practice of religious faith within our society. We experience that in so many different ways today, especially in view of legislation and popular opinions, which are contrary to what religious faith is all about. We also experience it more frequently today in view of instant communication and computerized technology which can be an opposition to faith. One of the challenges that faces us today in this regard, especially as pertains to the very dignity of the human person, is artificial intelligence. Pope Leo is very much aware of this challenge and has already expressed on several occasions, the need to address it and his intention to do just that.
It has been frequently said that Pope Leo is the first American Pope. That is not true as Pope Francis was technically the first American Pope coming from Argentina. However, Pope Leo is the first Pope from the United States of America. This is significant since the United States, came into existence as the land of immigrants. We can say that Pope Leo is the first Pope from the land of immigrants, and that is very evident in his immigrant background. We must be very protective of our nation as a land of immigrants. We are well aware of the many challenges that are facing the immigrant population of our nation today. Despite the proper need for law to regulate citizenship within the United States, we can never underestimate the reality that the greatness of our nation is due to the fact that we are a land of immigrants. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are the rights of those who legitimately come to our shores, especially seeking such rights. Immigration is our nation’s birth right.
As we celebrate the Fourth of July at this time of the year, we give thanks to God for our great nation. We continue to pray for it, that may come to its full potential, especially in regard to it being the land freedom and faith that may come to its full potential. There is no question that we have many faults to fix and much progress to be made. However, in a relatively short period of time we have achieved so much because of what is expressed in the Declaration of Independence.
America is the land of dreams which can come true. How many have placed the dream of becoming its President before a young person as a real possibility. Now we can also place the dream of becoming the Pope to a citizen of this great nation. May we always respect our freedom as made in the image and likeness of God and our freedom to practice our faith in Him as a foundation of what we are all about in the United States.
A blessed Fourth of July to all!
Most Reverend Gerald M. Barbarito
June 27, 2025
