A nonprofit hopes to generate enough small donations to construct a papal tiara for Pope Leo XIV as a gift from American Catholics.
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Amici Vaticani’s design for a papal tiara to gift to Pope Leo XIV. The newly established nonprofit launched a crowdfunding effort to construct a papal tiara that will contain Catholic and American symbolism, with the plan to offer it to the pope as a gift from American Catholics. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Maltese jeweler Gabriel Farrugia
By Tyler Arnold
March 2, 2026 at 6:00 AM ET
A newly established nonprofit launched a crowdfunding effort to construct a papal tiara that will contain Catholic and American symbolism, with the plan to offer it to Pope Leo XIV as a gift from American Catholics for the first pontiff from the United States.
“Historically, the majority of papal tiaras are gifts, usually from the home diocese of the pope or from religious [communities] they may be affiliated with,” Isaac Smith, a convert to Catholicism and the founder of Amici Vaticani, told EWTN News.
Smith said he was motivated to launch the project to provide Leo with a papal tiara based on the desire for “us, as Americans, to continue that tradition.” He said the first American pope is “such a historical milestone” for Catholicism in the United States.
The history of papal crowns dates back to at least the eighth century with the word “tiara” first used in the 12th century. A second crown was added to the tiara in the 13th century to symbolize that the pope holds authority in both spiritual and temporal matters.
