Pontiff delivers Liberty Medal address after Lampedusa visit with migrants
Pope Leo XIV arrived by helicopter on Lampedusa early Saturday, a brief visit to the island that has for decades been the first landing point for people crossing the Mediterranean from north Africa. Among those gathered near Italy’s southernmost port were newly arrived migrants, Italian coastguard search-and-rescue officials and aid groups.
Leo told them he had come to show that the pope “continues to accompany you, support you and encourage you.”
Lampedusa, located closer to Tunisia than to mainland Italy, is home to roughly 6,000 residents. More than 182,000 people have transited its reception centre in the past three years, Vatican News reported this week, citing data from the Italian Red Cross. Since 2014, the International Organization for Migration has recorded tens of thousands of deaths of people who set off from Tunisia or Libya. Between January and early April, the IOM reported nearly 1,000 people either dead or missing in the Mediterranean.
The pope called on European leaders to tackle migration “in a comprehensive manner, integrating immediate relief efforts into a long-term strategic plan capable of receiving, protecting, supporting and integrating migrants.” He also urged them to help improve conditions in migrants’ home countries so that fewer people felt compelled to leave.
Later, in a speech broadcast live from the Vatican to the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, where he received the Liberty Medal, Leo praised the U.S. tradition of welcoming migrants. The word “America” had become a “byword for freedom” across the world because of the way the country welcomed immigrants, he said.
Leo said he hoped that ideals of “unity, justice and peace” held by the founding fathers would guide the U.S. as it celebrated its 250th anniversary. “This historic anniversary presents us with the opportunity to reflect once again on the nation’s founding principles in the hope that America will remain ever true to the dream that has earned it the title of land of the free and home of the brave,” the pope said.
Like his predecessor Pope Francis, Leo has clashed with President Donald Trump over immigration policies. In November, Leo called for “deep reflection” in the U.S. about the treatment of people held in detention. According to the Guardian, relations with the Trump administration worsened further after the pontiff condemned the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran.
Days before Leo’s trip to Lampedusa, Vice President JD Vance said the Vatican’s views on immigration were “troubling.” Leo has not taken up Trump’s invitation to the White House, extended by Vance during a meeting at the Vatican in May 2025.
Marco Politi, a Vatican journalist and author, told the Guardian that Leo’s trip to Lampedusa was “strongly symbolic and is also a political sign.” Politi said the visit reaffirmed the pope’s emphasis on the dignity of every human being, and said it was “a political message against the persecution of immigrants and what is being done by ICE agents in the U.S.”
Andrea Vreede, Vatican correspondent for Dutch broadcaster NOS, said the trip was partly to pay homage to Francis but also to make a point to Trump. “The pope is telling Trump what is important to him, and that is migrants. He chose 4 July to make this point,” Vreede said.
Kandeh Abdourahman, a cultural mediator who works on the island for the International Rescue Committee, described crossing the Mediterranean himself in 2015 and landing on Lampedusa. “The pope’s visit speaks to every one of us — a reminder that our stories are seen, that ‘welcome’ is not just a word but an act of humanity that can help us reach all 118 million people displaced in the world today,” Abdourahman said.