Lampedusa, Italy - Pope Leo XIV on Saturday defended the rights of migrants crossing the Mediterranean from Africa in a stark message to leaders both in Europe and in the US.
The Catholic Church's first US pope, who has clashed with President Donald Trump's administration repeatedly over its treatment of migrants, marked July 4 – the US' 250th anniversary of independence – on a migration frontline.
Leo's visit to the Italian island of Lampedusa comes just two weeks after the European Union approved new migration rules allowing much broader detention powers and the creation of deportation centers outside the bloc.
Lampedusa is a major port of call for migrants risking the perilous crossing from Africa. After praying at the unmarked graves of shipwreck victims, the 70-year-old stood alone on the island's rocky shoreline, buffeted by the wind as he looked out to sea, where countless migrant boats have been lost to the waves.
He spoke to a migrant family, before taking the children by the hand and standing along with their pregnant mother at the "Door of Europe," a monument dedicated to people who risk everything in search of a better life.
The Chicago-born pontiff has made the defense of migrants a pillar of his papacy, much like his predecessor, Pope Francis. Leo often praises those who assist migrants and fight for their rights, while decrying Trump's deadly mass deportation campaign in the US.
He used the half-day trip to the Mediterranean island, a frontier between Africa and Europe, to call for safe and legal pathways for immigration.
Leo's presence "sends a clear message at a time when the global political debate on migration is often framed around borders and deterrence rather than protection and shared responsibility," Filippo Ungaro, a spokesperson for the UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, told the AFP.