Pope Leo XIV venerates heart of Mother Cabrini, calls for more missionaries like her

PAVIA, Italy (OSV News) — Pope Leo XIV venerated a relic of the heart of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first U.S. citizen ever canonized a saint, during a visit June 20 to her hometown in northern Italy, saying that her missionary devotion to migrants speaks directly to the challenges of today’s world.

“I am here to pay tribute to Mother Cabrini, patroness of migrants and the first saint of the United States of America, who was born here in Sant’Angelo Lodigiano in 1850 and died in Chicago, my hometown, in 1917,” Pope Leo said inside the Parish of Sts. Anthony Abbot and Frances Cabrini. “When I learned that Sant’Angelo Lodigiano is just a few kilometers from Pavia, I immediately thought I should take this opportunity … and here I am.”

The pope traveled by helicopter from the Vatican earlier in the day to the city of Pavia, where he prayed at the tomb of St. Augustine, before continuing on to Sant’Angelo Lodigiano. His helicopter touched down in Mother Cabrini’s hometown just before 7 p.m., where he was greeted by Bishop Maurizio Malvestiti of Lodi, Italy, and the town’s mayor.

Thousands of people lined the pope’s route to the parish church and filled the square outside of the church to greet him.

Inside the church, Pope Leo prayed before the relic of Mother Cabrini’s heart, brought from the saint’s motherhouse in nearby Codogno, and addressed those gathered there.

The pope recalled how Mother Cabrini, a missionary nun who dreamed of serving in China, was instead directed by Pope Leo XIII to take her religious institute’s mission to the U.S. “Not to the East, but to the West,” he said, quoting his 19th-century namesake’s instruction to serve the thousands of Italian immigrants arriving in the U.S. at the time.

Quoting Mother Cabrini’s own writings, Pope Leo XIV said, “No task will be too difficult, no land too far away, no person too wounded for the love of the heart of Jesus and for all those called to be bearers of Christ’s love in the world.”

“What could be more relevant today than this charism?” he asked. “What could be more relevant today than a missionary charism dedicated to serving migrants?”

The pope urged young people to get to know Mother Cabrini through her own words. “Read her writings, filled with passion for Jesus and for the mission; her letters, her travel journals, and the notes from her retreats,” he said.

“Anyone who gets to know Mother Cabrini is captivated by her,” Pope Leo added. “She was immersed in the love of the heart of Christ, and this gave her an extraordinary capacity for work and strength of spirit.”

The pope pointed to how Mother Cabrini’s missionary work was rooted in her devotion to the Sacred Heart and animated by the motto she chose for her institute, drawn from St. Paul: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13).

Pope Leo also asked people to consider how Mother Cabrini’s missionary spirit might speak to the present moment, when he said migration has “entered a different phase, certainly more complex, yet no less capable of challenging the Church.” He recalled the late Pope Francis, the son of Italian immigrants, had made care for migrants a defining priority of his pontificate.

“Through her example and intercession, may St. Cabrini help you to be in love with Christ, witnesses to his Gospel with a dynamic and generous spirit, in service to the poorest,” the pope said, before leading the congregation in the Our Father.

Mother Cabrini, born Maria Francesca Cabrini in Sant’Angelo Lodigiano on July 15, 1850, was the youngest of 10 children and was drawn to religious life from an early age after hearing stories of missionaries. She arrived in New York City in 1889 with a small group of sisters, overcoming early setbacks to establish catechism programs, schools and orphanages for Italian immigrants. Her work eventually took her across Europe, Central and South America and the United States — crossing the Atlantic Ocean more than 20 times and founding 67 institutions, including schools, hospitals and orphanages, before her death in Chicago in 1917. She was canonized in 1946.

Mother Cabrini arrived in Chicago, the pope’s hometown, in 1899 and founded a hospital and a Catholic school serving the city’s largely immigrant poor.

Pope Leo’s brother, John Prevost, previously told OSV News he was unaware of any particular personal devotion the pope held toward Mother Cabrini; but he noted that Pope Leo had enjoyed the 2024 film “Cabrini,” which dramatizes the saint’s work among immigrants in late 19th- and early 20th-century U.S.

Before departing Sant’Angelo Lodigiano for the Vatican by helicopter at 8:18 p.m., Pope Leo greeted that large crowd, including many young people, that had gathered to see him off.

“You young people can change the world,” he told them. “We are waiting for you.”

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