ARGUINEGUÍN, Gran Canaria, Spain— The port of Arguineguín, on the southern coast of Gran Canaria, hosted one of the most moving events of Pope Leo XIV's visit to Spain. It is the first European soil touched by those who cross the Atlantic from the African coast in small boats, and the last sight for those who never complete the crossing. The Pontiff called on Europe not to look away and to take responsibility for the issue, because those who arrive here are "brothers and sisters".
The pontiff arrived from the Gando air base after an intense morning in Barcelona, where the previous evening he had lit the permanent torch atop the Tower of Jesus at the Sagrada Família.
The event was designed from the outset with a clear purpose: to make sure the protagonists were not officials or media, but people. Of the approximately 2,000 attendees, 75% were migrants. The rest were the volunteers, Salvamento Marítimo workers, the Red Cross, Cáritas, the National Police, and the Civil Guard — the people who week after week receive those who arrive exhausted, frightened, and often alone. The event was closed to the general public.
A Route That Kills
During de ceremony, Tito Villarmea, captain of the vessel Guardia Mar Urania and rescue worker with Salvamento Marítimo, spoke with the authority of someone who has lived every rescue as a debt owed to life. "20,000 people rescued is a figure that hurts, that you never forget. In every rescue we see that lives depend directly on us. I hope we never have to rescue anyone again. Let us build a more just world. Until that day comes, we will give everything to save lives at sea."
The testimony of Blessing, a trafficking survivor, was the most moving moment for the Pontiff, who thanked her for her words and her courage in speaking out against the criminal networks. For security reasons she could not be present, and a volunteer gave voice to her experience. "At 14 I was already alone in the world. At 22 I made the hardest decision of my life: to leave Nigeria, to leave my two daughters. The mafia told me I had a debt of 20,000 euros."
Standing at the water's edge, the Pontiff called for words to become action. "The Church cannot turn away from these waters, nor from any place where the poor continue to be treated with exploitation or with oblivion."
Leo XIV also addressed his message to other religions, calling for unity in the face of what he described as the indifference of many. He issued a direct warning to Europe: "It cannot grow accustomed to its waters being cemeteries without headstones." The response, he said, cannot rest on the shoulders of volunteers alone, but requires a genuine political will to bring about real change.
At the close of his address, the Pope made a floral offering, casting flowers into the sea in memory of those who never made it across the Atlantic. This was followed by the blessing of a cross built from the remains of a cayuco, one of the precarious vessels in which thousands of people attempt to reach the Canarian coast. Also present at the ceremony was a statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, patron of sailors and fishermen, whom the Pope also thanked for their work in rescue and assistance at sea.
In the first four months of 2026, some 2,276 people arrived irregularly in the Canary Islands. Over the whole of 2025, the figure reached 17,788. And according to the organization Caminando Fronteras, at least 635 people have already died on the Canary route so far this year. Last year, the same crossing claimed more than 1,100 lives.
The Pope's address comes at a time of sharp political confrontation in Spain over the question of migration. The Partido Popular and Vox, the centre-right and far-right parties, have been signing regional investiture agreements that include as a condition the so-called "national priority" clause — a formula that in its most extreme form proposes the complete suspension of public subsidies to social organisations and NGOs working "directly or indirectly" with migrants, including Cáritas, which is linked to the Church.
Castilla y León became the latest autonomous community to accept the far-right's terms in order to invest Alfonso Fernández Mañueco as regional president. The agreements would, for example, deny migrants access to healthcare or public services unless their life is in immediate danger.
In that context, the Pope's words at Arguineguín are not merely a pastoral gesture. They are a statement of position. "Human dignity has no passport and does not lose its value at the border."
Photos of the Sagrada Família by Gian Marco Benedetto and photos of Gran Canaria by Alex Basha / JNA Press Photo
