Pope Leo XIV elevates Cabrini’s migrant mission on Italy visit
What’s next: Leo is due in Lampedusa on July 4, extending his push to center migrants early in his papacy.
Pope Leo XIV used a visit Saturday to Sant'Angelo Lodigiano, Italy, the birthplace of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, to press his case that Catholics should care for migrants. Leo prayed at Cabrini’s tomb and held an evening prayer service, holding up the first American saint as a model for Christians and especially for young people. Cabrini, a naturalized U.S. citizen who died in Chicago in 1917, is known for building schools, hospitals and orphanages for migrants and the poor. Leo also invoked Pope Francis’ focus on people on the move, reinforcing migration as an early priority of his own papacy. The visit followed Leo’s trip to Spain’s Canary Islands and comes ahead of a planned July 4 stop in Lampedusa.