Pope Leo visits Lampedusa and urges Europe to protect migrants
Pope Leo XIV traveled to Lampedusa, the small Italian island that is one of the main Mediterranean arrival points for migrants from North Africa, and urged wealthy nations to “receive, protect, support and integrate” migrants while investing in the economic development of the countries they leave. He blessed a memorial renamed for his predecessor and prayed at a cemetery for those who died at sea.
The visit deliberately retraced Pope Francis’s 2013 trip to the same island, which set the tone for that papacy’s focus on migration. By repeating it early in his own tenure, Leo signaled continuity on the issue at a moment when many Western governments — including the United States and several European states — are prioritizing border enforcement and deportations. Al Jazeera reported that more than 14,000 migrants had reached Italy by boat this year, with over 1,400 deaths in the Mediterranean.