Pope Leo appeals to the saint of immigrants as the conflict with Trump heats up
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Pope Leo XIV spent Saturday’s visit in honor of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first American saint and patron saint of immigrants, to present his latest appeal on their behalf, asking Catholics to look to his example at a time when immigration is still one of the problems defining his new papacy.
The comments came as Leo continued to make immigration a priority in his public service, a position that has sparked months of public friction with President Donald Trump over immigration and foreign policy.
“What could be more important today than the missionary charism dedicated to serving immigrants?” Leo said so at the evening service in Sant’Angelo Lodigiano, the town in northern Italy where Cabrini was born.
The American-born Pope prayed at Cabrini’s grave and urged young Catholics to learn from the saint’s life of service to immigrants, many of whom left their countries in search of better opportunities.
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Pope Leo XIV presides over the celebration at the parish of Santi Antonio Abate in Francesca Cabrini in Sant’Angelo Lodigiano, Italy, on Saturday. The visit was part of his pastoral trip to nearby Pavia and marked the birthplace of Francesca Cabrini, the first US saint and Patroness of Migrants. (Mario Tomassetti/Vatican Media)
But Leo also appealed to his predecessor, Pope Francis, whose papacy has been defined in part by calls to welcome migrants.
“Let’s ask ourselves: if Mother Francesca were alive today, what would her missionary spirit tell her?” Leo said. “And what does a pope like Francis – who, as the son of Italian immigrants, made the service of immigrants one of the priorities of his Pontificate – ask him?”
The comments are the latest in a series of migration-focused revelations that have helped define Leo’s first year as pope.
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Pope Leo XIV greets the faithful as he leaves the parish of Santi Antonio Abate in Francesca Cabrini in Sant’Angelo Lodigiano, Italy, on Saturday. (Mario Tomassetti/Vatican Media)
Last week, Leo traveled to Spain’s Canary Islands, a major destination for migrants from West Africa, where he met with migrants and called for greater efforts to welcome and integrate people fleeing hardship and conflict.
During that trip, Leo called on world leaders to create “legal and safe channels” for migration and warned against understating migrants.
Leo’s advocacy of immigration has drawn criticism from Trump, who has accused the pope of meddling in politics and strongly disagrees with some of his comments on immigration and foreign policy.
The public disagreement has become one of the most scrutinized relations between the Vatican and Washington during Leo’s papacy.
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Pope Leo XIV presided over the celebration at the parish of Santi Antonio Abate in Francesca Cabrini in Sant’Angelo Lodigiano, Italy, on Saturday, during his teaching visit to nearby Pavia. (Mario Tomassetti/Vatican Media)
Earlier this year, Reuters reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was expected to meet with Vatican officials and Italian leaders amid tensions between the Holy See and the Trump administration.
Leo rejected suggestions that his comments were a political attack, saying instead that his complaints stemmed from Catholic teaching on human dignity, peace and care for vulnerable people.
Saturday’s tour focused on Cabrini, who became a naturalized US citizen and spent decades serving Italian immigrants through schools, hospitals and orphanages before his death in Chicago in 1917.
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Pope Leo XIV holds a private audience with Vice President JD Vance at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City, May 19, 2025. (Simone Risoluti/Vatican Media)
The Vatican also announced that Leo will travel to the Italian island of Lampedusa on July 4, a date that is likely to attract attention in the United States given the pope’s American origins.
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Lampedusa has become one of the most recognized migration destinations in Europe due to the thousands of migrants who attempt the dangerous crossing from North Africa every year. The island has symbolic importance within the Catholic Church because it was Pope Francis’ first trip outside of Rome after becoming pope in 2013.
Fox News Digital’s Eric Mack and Robert McGreevy, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
