Immigration & refugees

Pope Leo XIV Honors St. Cabrini

Is Pope Leo XIV's migration focus a faithful call to Catholic duty or a partisan political campaign against Trump?

Published JUN 22

Story

Above: Pope Leo XIV gives a speech in the Duomo in Pavia, Italy, on June 20. Image credit: Andrea Carrubba/Anadolu/Getty Images

The Facts

Pope Leo XIV visited Sant'Angelo Lodigiano, Italy, on Saturday to venerate a relic of the heart of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first U.S. citizen canonized as a Catholic saint and patron saint of migrants, who was born there in 1850 and died in Chicago in 1917.
The Associated Press
FOX News
During the visit, Pope Leo prayed before Cabrini's heart relic, brought from the congregation's motherhouse in nearby Codogno, and was welcomed by roughly 5,000 faithful who lined his route to the Parish of Sts. Anthony Abbot and Frances Cabrini.
The Tablet
National Catholic Register
Cabrini arrived in New York City in 1889 and over 34 years founded 67 institutions — including schools, hospitals and orphanages — across the United States, Europe, and Central and South America. She was canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1946.
Catholic Review
Church in Need
Pope Leo invoked his predecessor Pope Francis, noting that Francis — the son of Italian immigrants — had made care for migrants a defining priority of his pontificate. Leo also referenced his own apostolic exhortation, Dilexi Te, which highlights Cabrini's witness alongside that of St. John Baptist Scalabrini.
Newsweek
Vatican News
The Cabrini visit followed Leo's two-day trip to Spain's Canary Islands the previous week, where he called for welcoming migrants fleeing hardship. His next planned Italy stop is Lampedusa on July 4, a major destination for migrants crossing from North Africa.
The Associated Press
AsiaOne
Two days after the Cabrini visit, Pope Leo marked World Refugee Day on Monday, following the Angelus prayer at St. Peter's Square, calling on nations to protect displaced people on the 75th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.
National Catholic Reporter
Catholic Connect

Sources Split

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The Spin

Narrative A

Pope Leo XIV's visit to St. Cabrini's birthplace was a powerful reminder that serving migrants is at the heart of Catholic teaching. Cabrini's legacy of building schools, hospitals and orphanages for Italian immigrants shows exactly what faith in action looks like. Her missionary charism is as urgent today as it was a century ago.

The Catholic Weekly

Vatican News

Narrative B

Pope Leo XIV keeps using religious platforms to wage a sustained campaign against Trump's immigration policies, framing political advocacy as a Gospel duty. His Cabrini visit, upcoming Lampedusa trip and Canary Islands stop form a deliberate pattern of migration-focused appearances that have tanked his favorability among many Catholics.

FOX News