Migration has been a central theme all through Pope Leo’s weeklong tour of Spain.
Printed On 12 Jun 2026
Pope Leo has warned human traffickers that they are going to face God’s wrath in the event that they proceed to take advantage of determined African individuals attempting to achieve Europe by way of Spain’s Canary Islands.
On Friday, his second day within the Canary Islands, the pontiff mentioned that he needed to straight deal with those that “reap the benefits of individuals’s desperation [or] organise dying routes”.
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All through his weeklong tour of Spain, the American pope has insisted on the inherent dignity and rights of migrants, urging international leaders to welcome and combine them into society.
“Cease. Repent,” mentioned Pope Leo. “For each life misplaced, each household deceived … you’ll have to seem earlier than divine justice.”
“Repent whereas there’s nonetheless time,” he mentioned, invoking the Catholic perception that somebody who dedicated evil acts in life can confess their sins and make amends or be despatched to hell upon their dying.
Leo was visiting the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago off the western coast of Africa, because the fruits of a three-stop tour of Spain.
The islands are one of many principal gateways into Europe for migrants, who danger a lethal journey throughout the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, typically in improvised and overcrowded small craft.
Earlier, the primary man from the USA to steer the Roman Catholic Church, warned world leaders that historical past would condemn those that allowed individuals fleeing battle or poverty to undergo.
Situated greater than 1,000km (620 miles) from mainland Spain, the Canaries noticed migration peak in 2024, when the islands acquired 46,843 migrants, in contrast with fewer than 1,000 in 2015, based on official knowledge.
Greater than 3,000 individuals died final yr attempting to achieve the islands, based on the NGO Caminando Fronteras.
The pope additionally visited an interim housing centre in Tenerife, the most important of the Canary Islands, to listen to testimonies from migrants. The ability has acquired some 70,000 individuals because it opened in 2021.
One girl, Bousso Diouf, informed Pope Leo that migrants didn’t need particular privileges however “respect, humanity and the chance to stay with dignity.”
