Pope Leo XIV to spend July 4 with migrants on Italian island of Lampedusa

Pope Leo XIV will follow in his predecessor Pope Francis’ footsteps with a visit to a major migrant landing point, the Italian island of Lampedusa, on July 4.

Continuing his summer of day trips in Italy, the first U.S.-born pope will spend the U.S. Independence Day greeting immigrants, celebrating Mass, and visiting the tombs of Africans who have died at sea while making the dangerous boat crossing to Europe.

Lampedusa, which is part of the Italian region of Sicily, is only about 80 miles from Tunisia and a main gateway for Africans escaping poverty and violence to enter the continent of Europe.

When Pope Francis traveled to Lampedusa on July 8, 2013, his first official trip outside of Rome, the small island was experiencing frequent landings of boats carrying hundreds of migrants and refugees from Africa — those who managed to survive the deadly crossing in search of a better life.

During his visit, Francis celebrated Mass at an altar made from a migrant boat and threw a wreath of white and yellow flowers into the sea to remember those who had lost their lives in the Mediterranean Sea.

Commenting on the capsize of a dingy carrying migrants in the Strait of Sicily just…