Pope hails relevance today of American saint who cared for migrants

Pope Leo has 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 US pope as the heir to Pope Francis in prioritising 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 on Saturday.

The visit was part of Leo’s summertime grand tour of Italy to visit key cities and 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 US, however, as she criss-crossed the globe building schools, hospitals and orphanages for those who had nothing.

After she died in 1917, as a naturalised US citizen in Leo’s native Chicago, Cabrini was beatified and then canonised in 1946 as the first American saint.

In praising Cabrini, 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.

“Let us ask ourselves: if Mother Francesca were alive today, what would her missionary spirit tell her?

“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’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.

His clash with the Trump administration over migration has given added symbolic significance to his decision to spend July 4 – US Independence Day – in Lampedusa, which was where Francis chose to make his first trip outside Rome as Pope, in 2013.