Pope Leo XIV will mark the 250th anniversary of US independence by highlighting the plight of migrants, an area of continuing tension between the papacy and the Trump administration, on a visit to the southern Italian island of Lampedusa.
The treatment of migrants has been one of the main sources of tension between the first American pope and the Trump administration, with Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic, this week describing the Vatican’s position on the topic as “troubling.”
Two high-profile leaders in the US Catholic church have told CNN that Pope Leo’s July 4 visit sends a message to the US about immigration, with Lampedusa a major entry point to Europe for those embarking across the Mediterranean. Many risk their lives in the process.
As a bishop in Peru, Leo XIV offered practical help to migrants fleeing Venezuela, and as pope, he has criticized the US administration’s crackdown on immigrants, describing their treatment as “inhuman.”
While in Lampedusa, the pope will lay a floral wreath on the tombs of migrants who died at sea, meet a group of migrants and celebrate an open-air Mass.
