Pope praises U.S. history of welcoming migrants during first major address

The pope delivered his first major address to the United States from the Vatican to the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia while receiving the Center's Liberty Medal. He stated that the word "America" had become a "byword for freedom" across the world because of the way the country welcomed migrants.

The speech urged Americans to live up to the ideals of "unity, justice and peace" held by the founding fathers.

Upcoming visit to Lampedusa The pope will mark the U.S. 250th anniversary on Saturday with a brief visit to the southern Italian island of Lampedusa. He will arrive by helicopter early in the morning and first stop at a cemetery containing unmarked graves of people who died during Mediterranean crossings.

The itinerary also includes the Porta d'Europa migrant memorial monument and the blessing of a plaque on a pier named after the previous pope. The visit follows a July 2013 trip to the same island by that predecessor.

Mediterranean crossings More than 182,000 people have passed through Lampedusa's reception centre in the past three years, according to data cited by Vatican News from the Italian Red Cross. The International Organization for Migration has recorded tens of thousands of deaths of people who set off from Tunisia or Libya since 2014.

Between January and early April, the organization reported nearly 1,000 people either dead or missing in the Mediterranean. The pope will celebrate mass and speak with survivors and humanitarian workers before departing shortly after midday.