SANT'ANGELO LODIGIANO, Italy (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Saturday exalted the first American saint, Mother Frances Cabrini, as a model for Christians today to care for migrants in need, as he visited her birthplace during a day trip to northern Italy.
Leo, who has clashed with the Trump administration over its migrant crackdown, urged young people in particular to learn about Cabrini's life and service, once again confirming history's first U.S. pope as the heir to Pope Francis in prioritizing the plight of migrants.
Leo prayed before Cabrini's tomb in a basilica named for her in her birthplace in Sant'Angelo Lodigiano, near Milan, and presided over an evening prayer service. The visit to northern Italy is part of Leo's summertime grand tour of Italy to visit key cities to get to know his flock.
Cabrini, the patron saint of migrants, is well known to many Americans for her work caring for Italian immigrants in the United States at the turn of the last century. Her work went beyond the U.S., however, as she crisscrossed the globe building schools, hospitals and orphanages for those who had nothing.
After she died in 1917, as a naturalized U.S. citizen in Leo's native Chicago, Cabrini was beatified and then canonized in 1946 as the first American saint.
Leo asks what Francis would do
In praising Cabrini on Saturday, Leo said she was inspired by her faith to help those migrants who had left everything behind to try to find a better life.
"What could be more relevant today than a missionary charism dedicated to serving migrants?" he said.
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"Let us ask ourselves: if Mother Francesca were alive today, what would her missionary spirit tell her?" Leo said. "And what would a pope like Francis — who, as the son of Italian immigrants, made service to migrants one of the key priorities of his pontificate — ask of her?"
"I therefore take this opportunity to make an appeal, especially to young people: get to know St. Frances Cabrini!" Leo said, urging them to read her writings, travel journals and notes from retreats.
A July 4 with migrants
Leo has embraced the Catholic Church's Gospel-mandated call to "welcome the stranger" in his ministry to migrants. Last week, Leo spent two days in Spain's Canary Islands, a major destination for migrants leaving West Africa, where he called for welcoming and integrating those fleeing hardship and conflict.
Leo's next Italy day trip is on July 4, when he heads to Lampedusa, the Sicilian island that is a major destination for migrants fleeing North Africa for Italy.
Leo's clash with the Trump administration over migration has given added symbolic significance to his decision to spend July 4 — U.S. Independence Day — in Lampedusa, which was where Francis chose to make his first trip outside Rome as pope, in 2013.
A prayer at the tomb of St. Augustine
Leo arrived in Cabrini's hometown after first stopping in nearby Pavia to pray at the tomb of St. Augustine, the fifth-century inspiration of his religious order. There, he encouraged Italians to rediscover their lagging Catholic faith.
Like many once-Christian strongholds in Europe, Italy has seen its churches empty in recent years amid secularizing trends, with fewer and fewer Italians getting married in the church or going to Mass regularly.
"At a time when many people seem to have lost their spiritual appetite or, for various reasons, no longer find the Christian faith appealing for their lives, we are called first and foremost to proclaim the Gospel," Leo said.
He pointed to Augustine as a source of inspiration for today's faithful.
Augustine was born in 354 in what is today Algeria, but he lived for five years in and around Milan, where he converted to Christianity. He later became a bishop, developed a rule for monastic life and wrote some of the most important works of Western thought, including "Confessions" and "The City of God."
"His thought, the story of his conversion, and his spirituality remind us of the value and primacy of interiority," of finding meaning inside oneself, Leo said.
Leo proclaimed himself a "son of St. Augustine" on the night of his election and has cited Augustine prolifically in his first year, making clear that the saint is the guiding inspiration of his pontificate.
Nicole Winfield reported from Rome.
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