Pope Leo tells trafficking victims in Canary Islands: 'Your body has a dignity no one can take away'
Pope Leo XIV brought his week-long Spanish tour to the Canary Islands on Thursday, meeting trafficking victims and migrants at a port once notorious for squalid conditions, and demanding safe routes and humane treatment.
Arrival at the 'dock of shame'
Pope Leo XIV landed on Gran Canaria on Thursday morning for the final leg of his Spanish tour, heading directly to the port of Arguineguin. The site became known as the 'dock of shame' after roughly 1,000 migrants were stranded there in squalid, open-air conditions during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Many were left to sleep for weeks with only a blanket and no showers, and potential asylum seekers had no proper access to legal advice, with some held far longer than the three days permitted by law. The ombudsman later forced the government to shut the makeshift camp.
An appeal to trafficking victims
At the port, the North American pontiff listened to the testimony of a woman victim of trafficking who spoke on behalf of all women victims. He then addressed them directly, insisting on their inherent worth.
If others have put a price on your body, God has never stopped looking at you as a person of inestimable value. If they have treated you like a thing, the Church wants to tell you today: you are a daughter and a sister, your life does not belong to those who have harmed you, your body does not belong to those who have taken advantage of you, and it has a dignity that no one can take away from you.
'Human dignity has no passport'
Leo broadened his message to the international community, making what he called an 'appeal to the conscience' of politicians in Europe and beyond. He warned that history would condemn those who allowed people fleeing war or poverty to suffer.
The pope stressed that dignity requires legal and safe routes, rescue and assistance, real cooperation against traffickers, effective protection for victims, and serious processes of reception and integration. He added that there is also a right not to have to migrate: to remain at home without hunger, war, persecution, or corruption.Human dignity has no passport, nor does it lose value when crossing a border.
The perilous Atlantic route
The Canary Islands are a key entry point for migrants smuggled from West Africa, often in packed, unseaworthy boats. More than 3,000 people died in 2025 trying to reach the archipelago, according to the NGO Caminando Fronteras. A record of nearly 47,000 migrants arrived in 2024, though numbers have fallen sharply, with just over 3,000 people landing in the first five months of 2026. On Friday, the pope is scheduled to meet with around 1,000 refugees and migrants. Juan Carlos Lorenzo, coordinator of the Spanish Commission for Refugees in the Canary Islands, called the visit a significant milestone.
It will serve as a strong affirmation of the defense of human rights, respect, and the dignity that all people deserve, regardless of their origin.
A counterpoint to European migration politics
Spain's Socialist-led government has bucked a trend in Europe and the United States by defending immigration on economic and humanitarian grounds, launching a legalisation push earlier this year for hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has highlighted the benefits to an economy with an ageing workforce and low birth rate. The initiative has drawn criticism from far-right leaders in Spain and across the continent. Leo's visit fulfills a long-held wish of his predecessor, Francis, who died a year ago without making a planned trip to the islands. Earlier in the week, Leo told the Spanish parliament that a lack of help for the world's migrants was challenging 'the ethical foundation of the international order', receiving a seven-minute standing ovation.
- 2024
- 47000 people
- 2025
- 46000 people
- 2026 (Jan-May)
- 3000 people
