Johan Candlen, goodwill ambassador and executive director of the First Step Forum, announced that Pope Francis has been awarded the 2014 Shahbaz Bhatti Freedom Award.
Candelin presented the award to the pope in the Vatican on Thursday, 6 November 2014.
Pope Francis is the fourth international person to receive the award for his work towards religious freedom around the world.
It is known that the Egyptian Dr. Hany Hanna was the first international person received the award since the establishment in the name of Shahbaz Bhatti (posthumously), (the first minster of minors in Pakistan) in January 2012.
The third person awarded was the famous Burmese opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who was under house arrest for almost 15 years until her release in 2010. She is currently the leader of the National League for Democracy in Burma.
