LAS PALMAS, Spain (RNS) — Pope Leo XIV delivered a heartfelt speech addressing migrants on Thursday, reminding them of their worth and dignity even as they suffer at the hands of traffickers and mafias. He also spoke directly to the church and states — especially in Europe — underlining their duty to promote and protect migrants.
Leo said those who exploit migrants are "monsters" — as are people who are indifferent to their suffering. He called for a "conversion," allowing people to see migrants beyond mere statistics.
"Only then can we understand that that little girl could be our daughter, and that those faces could be part of our family. Then, our conscience is left with no excuses," he said. "Human dignity has no passport and does not lose its value when crossing a border."
Leo made his remarks at the port of Arguineguín, in Las Palmas, in Gran Canary Island, where he listened to the stories of migrants and people who help them. Leo is visiting the Canary Islands for the last leg of his weeklong visit to Spain.
While the Canaries, eight islands roughly 60 miles from the African coast, may be considered a vacation spot for wealthy Europeans, the reality on the ground tells a deadlier tale, where tens of thousands of migrants arrive each year, stranded on its rocky shores and thousands more die in its surrounding waters.
Arguineguín became known as the port of shame in 2020, when more than 3,000 migrants crammed into a space meant for 500. Photos of exhausted migrants, who had traveled the deadly Atlantic route from West Africa, sleeping on concrete, exposed an inability to manage the crisis.
Today, Arguineguín wants to rebrand itself as a "port of hope" as volunteers and Catholic charities work to help the migrants and refugees, who arrive in the islands aboard makeshift boats called "cayucos" and "pateras."
Tito Villarmea, captain of the salvage boat Guardamar Urania, has reportedly saved more than 20,000 people as he patrols the ocean near the islands. Addressing the pope at the pier, he recalled saving a woman who cried desperately over the body of her teenage daughter, who had died on the journey.
"I wish we didn't have to save anyone again," he said. "Let's work as a society to reduce this tragedy and build a more just world."
In 2024, the Canaries received a record 46,843 migrants. Arrivals have declined in recent years after Spain and the European Union struck deals with Mauritania, Senegal and Morocco to intercept departures and increase patrols. The crossing has also grown proportionally deadlier, with a greater number of those attempting the journey perishing; last year, nearly 3,090 people died trying to reach Spain, through the Canary Islands or the Balearic route, and 1,300 have already died in the first six months of 2026, according to the Spanish nongovernmental organization Caminando Fronteras.
Just over 3,000 migrants have arrived to the islands this year, most from Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, Gambia and other regions of sub-Saharian Africa. Other immigrants arrive via air from Latin America, especially Venezuela and Cuba.
In his address, Leo called migrant deaths and exploitation a tragedy and said they "must serve as an appeal to the conscience of the nations of origin," which have an obligation to provide the conditions for human flourishing. He also urged transit nations to protect the vulnerable from criminal networks and said the international community should promote cooperation.
The pope made an "appeal to the conscience of Europe, which cannot claim to uphold human dignity while growing accustomed to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic becoming unmarked graves."
The EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, a new legal framework for how European countries manage immigration, takes effect Friday. Human-rights organizations warn that the pact, a set of 10 pieces of legislation adopted in 2024, opens the door for large deportation efforts to migrant camps in Africa. "We are worried because European politics is restrictive, it's not aimed at building bridges but at building walls," said the Rev. Fernando Redondo, who oversees the migration office of the Spanish bishops' conference.
At the event, Leo addressed immigrants directly. "I want to bow before your dignity," he said. "You are not just numbers or files. You are people who have left behind families and homes. You have dreams that no one has the right to despise."
He told migrants they "have a right to be protected" and to not fall for the "siren songs" of those who want to exploit them. "They are industries of death," he said.
Catholic charities assist over 220,000 migrants in the Canaries, including more than 2,000 minors, according to the secretary-general of the local Caritas charity network. The local church also signed an agreement in 2023 of "Atlantic hospitality" to work together with African countries to help migrants.
Leo said that even though some put a price on the bodies of migrants, trap them in their past or treat them like objects, God sees their intrinsic humanity.
"Your life does not belong to those who harmed you; your body does not belong to those who took advantage of you; your days do not belong to those who wanted to chain you to fear," he said. "Your life belongs to God, who has given you a dignity that cannot be taken from you. We want to walk with you until that truth feels stronger than the pain."
This story was produced through a collaboration between NPR and Religion News Service.
Copyright 2026 NPR
