Pope Leo XIV denounces indifference to migrant deaths in Canary Islands tribute

A symbolic tribute at Arguineguín

Pope Leo XIV chose the port of Arguineguín on Gran Canaria, a site notorious since 2020 when over 3,000 migrants were crammed there during the pandemic, to deliver a stark message on Europe's shores. He stepped to the water's edge and threw a bouquet of flowers into the sea, a gesture to the thousands who have drowned on the Atlantic crossing from Africa. He then stood in silence, facing the waves. The pope had earlier landed at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria for the two-day final leg of his week-long Spanish tour.

Even today, monsters roam these seas: mafias that traffic in despair, traffickers who enslave women and children, and the indifference of many individuals who let the poor be swallowed up by exploitation or oblivion.

A victim's brutal account

Before the speech, the pontiff listened to a letter read aloud by a Nigerian woman who survived trafficking. Her words, translated from the original, laid bare the cruelty of the networks that prey on migrants.

During the journey, I became pregnant by a man from the mafia. When I arrived in Spain, my baby was taken from me to force me into prostitution.

The pope's political double message

With Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez looking on, Leo XIV paired his condemnation of traffickers with a broader political appeal. He called on migrants' countries of origin to "create conditions of peace, justice and development," while also insisting on "the right to refuge" and, equally, "the right to stay in one's home." The dual emphasis echoes Church teaching but arrives amid fierce European debates over migration. The pope said those who survive the journey carry "dreams that no one has the right to despise."

A deadly Atlantic corridor

The route from Africa's coast to the Canaries remains one of the most lethal. According to the International Organization for Migration, 1,172 migrants died or went missing on the passage in 2025. Spain's interior ministry recorded nearly 18,000 arrivals in the archipelago that year, a sharp drop from almost 50,000 in 2024. Unlike shorter Mediterranean crossings, the Atlantic route forces frail boats to spend days, sometimes weeks, at sea on powerful currents. The pope described the waters as "cemeteries without tombstones," where both the living and the dead are pulled from the sea.

The last leg of a Spanish pilgrimage

The visit marks both the conclusion of Leo XIV's tour, which also took him to Madrid and Barcelona, and the fulfillment of a wish of his predecessor, Pope Francis, who had intended to travel to the Canaries but died a year ago. On the second day, the pope is scheduled to meet with migrant communities on the island, adding a pastoral encounter to the political statements of the first day.