▲ Pope Leo XIV visiting Gran Canaria
On June 11 (local time), Pope Leo XIV visited a Spanish island that has become a destination for dangerous migration routes across the Atlantic from Africa, urging the international community to create safe and legal migration pathways and find ways to foster social integration.
The Pope, who has been visiting Spain since June 6, visited the port of Arguineguin in Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, on this day. He laid flowers and prayed for migrants who lost their lives at sea, and met with migrants as well as representatives from churches and humanitarian organizations supporting them.
The Canary Islands are an archipelago located near Morocco in North Africa, where many people attempting to migrate to Europe across the Atlantic have gathered.
The number of migrants crossing the sea reached nearly 50,000 in 2024, and saw a slight decrease last year.
Many have lost their lives while crossing the open sea in makeshift boats, and even those who arrive often live in poor conditions.
Addressing the migrants, the Pope said, "You are not just numbers or documents, but people who have left behind families and homes, and individuals with dreams that no one has the right to despise."
He further emphasized, "Human dignity has no passport, and its value does not disappear just because one crosses a border."
The Pope criticized the situation, stating, "There are monsters lurking in this sea," referring to "mafias that profit from despair, human traffickers who enslave women and children, and those who, through indifference, allow the poor to be consumed by exploitation or oblivion."
The Pope urged Europe and the international community to take active measures, such as establishing safe and legal migration routes, pursuing sincere social integration for migrants, and making efforts to dismantle human smuggling organizations, saying, "We must not become accustomed to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic becoming nameless graveyards."
On June 12, the final day of his visit to Spain, the Pope is scheduled to travel to Tenerife to meet with migrants at a refugee reception center.
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.