The circulation coin features the portrait of Pope Leo XIV, who was elected head of the Roman Catholic Church on 8 May 2025. Alongside his portrait, the design shows the lily and the flaming heart from his papal coat of arms. The lily symbolises purity and devotion to the Virgin Mary. The heart, pierced by an arrow above an open book, refers to Augustinian spirituality and also represents the power of the Word of God. The country name Città del Vaticano indicates the issuing state of the coin.
Robert Francis Prevost, who has served as Pope Leo XIV since May 2025, is the first American-born pope in Church history and had previously spent many years as an Augustinian friar doing missionary work in Peru. His choice of papal name references Leo XIII, whose 1891 social encyclical "Rerum novarum" decisively shaped Catholic social teaching, signalling social justice as a likely priority of his pontificate. His coin effigy as head of state of Vatican City combines the papal portrait with personal heraldic elements from his religious and biographical background.
