Pope Leo XIV has used a visit honoring St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, viewed as the first American saint and patron saint of immigrants, to deliver his latest appeal on behalf of them.

The American-born pontiff asked Catholics to look to her example at a time when migration remains one of the defining issues of his emerging papacy.

The visit carried particular symbolic significance, Vatican News reported.

It was to Sant'Angelo Lodigiano, the northern Italian town where Cabrini was born in 1850 before living a life of mission that would take her across the Atlantic and eventually to Chicago, where she died in 1917.

She was canonised in 1946, became the first saint of the United States, and was later named Patroness of Migrants.

The Pope noted her devotion to the Sacred Heart and said her service to migrants remains a model for the Church in today's world.

Fox News reported that the remarks came as Leo continues to make migration a central focus of his public ministry, a position that has sparked months of public friction with President Donald Trump over immigration and foreign policy.

"What could be more relevant today than a missionary charism dedicated to serving migrants?" Leo said during an evening prayer service in Sant'Angelo Lodigiano, the northern Italian town where Cabrini was born.

     - Learn from the life of the saint

Leo prayed at Cabrini's tomb and urged young Catholics to learn from the saint's life of serving immigrants, many of whom had left their homelands in search of better opportunities.

"Let us ask ourselves: if Mother Francesca were alive today, what would her missionary spirit tell her?" Leo said.

"And what would a pope like Francis — who, as the son of Italian immigrants (to Argentine), made service to migrants one of the key priorities of his pontificate — ask of her?"

The week before, the Pope had traveled to Spain's Canary Islands, a major destination for migrants departing West Africa, where he met migrants and called for greater efforts to welcome and integrate people fleeing hardship and conflict.

During that trip, Leo urged world leaders to create "legal and safe pathways" for migration and warned against reducing migrants to statistics.

Fox reported that Leo's migration advocacy has frequently drawn criticism from Trump, who has accused the pontiff of venturing into politics and has sharply disagreed with some of his comments on immigration and foreign affairs.

St Cabrini spent the final years of her life in Chicago, the city where Pope Leo was born and raised.

Recalling this connection, Leo thanked the people of Sant'Angelo Lodigiano for their warm welcome.