A Wawa bag of Tastykakes, Villanova swag, and an historical artifact: National Constitution Center meets with Pope Leo at the Vatican
Philadelphians met the pope at the Vatican ahead of next month’s Liberty Medal ceremony.
What tokens of Philadelphia appreciation would you bring across the globe to the first Pope from the United States?
A bundle of Villanova swag? A replica of George Washington’s Acts of Congress? A Wawa tote bag filled with Tastykakes?
That’s what a delegation of Philadelphians on behalf of the National Constitution Center brought to Pope Leo XIV in the Vatican ahead of his live broadcast speech on Independence Mall next month amid the city’s 250th celebrations.
The pontiff, who has ties to the Philadelphia region as an alumnus of Villanova University, gave a “big, belly laugh” at the sight of the Tastykakes, a gift from the Archbishop of Philadelphia Nelson J. Pérez.
“Where else would this happen that you meet up with the archbishop toting Tastykakes in a Wawa bag?” said Vince Stango, Constitution Center interim president and CEO, in an interview Tuesday. “So there was a real humanity to it, a real Philadelphia vibe that was unmistakable.”
But the group’s visit to the Apostolic Palace, the pope’s official residence, was not just about Philly’s delectable sweets or relentless Big 5 basketball pride. It served as a precursor to Leo’s speech that will be broadcast live on Independence Mall and Youtube next month on July 3 as he delivers an acceptance speech for the Constitution Center’s annual Liberty Medal award.
The delegation from the Constitution Center, which included Stango, Pérez, and four center board members, gifted Leo the medal, which signifies the pontiff’s efforts toward promoting religious liberty.
“I would just like to recall the words signed by the Founding Fathers of the nation 250 years ago in Philadelphia in the Declaration of Independence when they said that we hold these truths to be self-evident … that all men have received fundamental rights from our creator,“ the pope said upon receiving the Liberty Medal.
”And they include life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. May those values continue to inspire us in the United States and throughout the would, and together hopefully," he continued.
The July 3 public ceremony, beginning at 11 a.m., will also feature remarks from Stango, Pérez, civic leaders, and from various faith leaders including:
Imam Quaiser D. Abdullah: Director, Mayor’s Office of Muslim Engagement, board member of Interfaith Philadelphia.
The Rev. Carolyn C. Cavaness: Pastor of Mother Bethel AME Church, board member of Interfaith Philadelphia.
The Rev. Luis A. Cortés Jr.: Founder, president, and CEO of Esperanza; Hispanic Clergy of Philadelphia, and a member of the Religious Leaders Council of Greater Philadelphia.
Rabbi Jill L. Maderer: Senior Rabbi of Congregation Rodeph Shalom, board member of Interfaith Philadelphia.
The Cathedral Basilica Choir and the Archdiocesan Choir of Philadelphia will also perform.
Stango said the pope took his receipt of the Liberty Medal award very seriously, and the pontiff also took it upon himself to confirm the details of the delegation’s visit to the Vatican on April 30, in an email on the morning of Good Friday.
“His character as an individual, and his humbleness really came through,” Stango said.
The Philadelphia delegation was greeted at the Vatican by The Swiss Guard, an armed patrol that has watched over the pope since 1506, said Stango, who described the “grandeur” of driving through the property toward the Apostolic Palace, where every room was “like you’re in the Sistine Chapel.”
They met Leo in the gathering room and presented him with two medals — one for him to keep and another to bless as it will be displayed at the Constitution Center — along with his Philly-centric gifts.
Stango said he was able to walk the pope through the copy of Acts of Congress, which is a replica of Washington’s personal volume, and comb through the first president’s notes in the margins. The delegation then spoke with Leo about the work being done at the Constitution Center and the principles that the United States was founded on.
“It had the intimacy of the Philadelphia connection, but it also had the magnitude of the global impact of the award, and what it represents, and what Pope Leo represents as a recipient,” Stango said.
Leo’s participation in next month’s live ceremony is notable given that the next day — on the Fourth of July — the pontiff will be in Lampedusa, a small Italian island located between Sicily and North Africa, and considered one of the deadliest migration routes in the world.
The Vatican has said that the pope, who was elected in May 2025, will not be traveling to the United States in 2026. Vice President JD Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, personally delivered Leo an invitation to visit the White House earlier this year.
That invitation came before tensions spiked between the pope and the White House after the pontiff criticized the United States’ war on Iran. President Donald Trump, in turn, said on his social media platform Truth Social in April that the pope is “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.”
Leo said, at that time, that he has “no fear of the Trump administration.”
“We are not politicians, we don’t deal with foreign policy with the same perspective he might understand it, but I do believe in the message of the Gospel, as a peacemaker,” Leo said.
