Pope Leo XIV renewed his support for migrants on Friday in the Canary Islands, saying “all of us are migrants” and urged newcomers to do their part to integrate, on the final day of a weeklong visit to Spain focused on migration issues.
Calling integration a “reciprocal journey”, the pope urged migrants learn the language of their host country, “to respect its laws, to get to know its customs, to participate in communal life”, during a meeting in Tenerife with organisations that work with migrants.
Leo also warned that migrants face a “silent shipwreck” after arrival, “left alone in a city, without a voice, without ties, work or a sense of security, and exposed to those who take advantage of vulnerability”.
Tenerife is one of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic, which have become a gateway for tens of thousands of irregular arrivals seeking a better life in Europe.
The leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics is concluding his trip with a call for more help for migrants and action against traffickers, at a time when immigration remains a hot topic of political debate.
He urged “those who organise death routes, traffic in human beings” to “stop and repent”, raising his voice for emphasis as the crowd applauded.
The US-born pope is expected to celebrate an open-air mass later on Friday in the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in front of tens of thousands of people
“In a sense, all of us are migrants, for we are all pilgrims on our way to our heavenly homeland,” he said earlier in an address to hundreds of migrants at Las Raíces (The Roots), a reception centre housed in a former military barracks that was initially heavily criticised for overcrowding.
‘So kind, so good’
Claudia de las Casas, 17, who turned out to see the pope in Tenerife with her mother, said she was “moved” by his focus on the plight of migrants.
“In the end, they are looking for opportunities, leaving behind the hardships they face in their own countries,” she told AFP.
Aliu Ceesay, 16, who arrived in the Canary Islands by boat a month ago from Gambia in search of work to help his family, said he wanted to see the pope in person after following him online.
“He is so kind, so good. He doesn’t care if we are black or white, Muslim or Christian. He wants to help us.” he told reporters in Tenerife as he waited for the pope to arrive at an event.
After visiting Madrid and Barcelona earlier in the week, the pope arrived in another island of the archipelago, Gran Canaria, on Thursday.
He condemned “indifference” towards migrants and cast a wreath into the sea at the port of Arguineguín to honour the thousands who have died trying to reach the Canaries.
“Human dignity has no passport,” he said on the dockside before blessing a faded blue cross made of wood from a boat that migrants arrived on.
‘Appeal to conscience’
Nearly 1,200 people died or went missing travelling from Africa to the Canary Islands last year, according to the International Organization for Migration, making it one of the world’s deadliest migration routes.
Europe, where governments have toughened their policies under pressure from the far right, “cannot claim to uphold human dignity while growing accustomed to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic becoming unmarked graves”, he said.
The pope said the tragedy must “appeal to the conscience” of nations of origin and transit where migrants flee poverty and conflict and fall prey to trafficking gangs.
From Tenerife, the pope will fly to Rome and is expected to speak to reporters on the plane.
On July 4, Leo is scheduled to visit another port of call for migrants entering Europe, the Italian island of Lampedusa, solidifying the plight of migrants as a hallmark of his papacy.
