Despite the absence of an official announcement from the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV has declined President Donald Trump’s invitation to join the 250th festivities of the US Independence Day on July 4.

Instead, the pontiff will travel to the southern Mediterranean island of Lampedusa, as part of a pastoral tour of Italy on that day.

Vice President JD Vance extended the invitation for the Pope to grace the July 4 events in the US as early as May, 2025. He followed up on the invitation by last month.

Pope Leo’s response was not made official until the Vatican published his July 4 schedule just recently.

The Prefecture of the Papal Household revealed the calendar of pastoral visits for the months of May, June, July and August.

On July 4, the Pope will visit Lampedusa which his predecessor, Pope Francis, visited in 2013. The island is known as the gateway for thousands of migrants from Africa and the Middle East to Italy and Europe.

Lampedusa, a small Italian island south of Sicity, was the destination of Pope Francis for his first official travel outside Rome on July 18, 2013. He prayed for victims lost at sea as he lamented the indifference of people toward migrants.

The planned visit of Pope Leo followed his public statement on the US migration debate. He supported US Catholic bishops who assailed the mass deportation policy of the Trump administration and called for humane treatment of migrants.