Pope Leo in Gran Canaria: ‘Human dignity has no passport’

By Linda Bordoni

Standing on the docks of Arguineguín, a port on the southern coast of Gran Canaria that has become one of Europe’s most poignant symbols of migration, Pope Leo XIV on Thursday issued an urgent appeal for compassion, responsibility and solidarity, insisting that “human dignity has no passport and does not lose its value when crossing a border.”

On the sixth day of his Apostolic Journey to Spain, the Pope met with migrants and the organisations that rescue, welcome and accompany them along one of the world’s deadliest migration routes.

The gathering took place at the so-called “Port of Shame,” where in 2020, thousands of migrants arrived within days as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded. For many fleeing poverty, conflict and exploitation in West Africa, the Canary Islands represent the nearest gateway to Europe, reached after perilous journeys across the Atlantic in overcrowded wooden boats.

Against the backdrop of the harbour and the Atlantic Ocean, Pope Leo listened to testimonies from a maritime rescuer, a Caritas volunteer, a survivor of human trafficking, and a migrant entrepreneur who rebuilt her life after years of hardship.

Pope Leo XIV at the meeting with migrants and those who rescue and accompany them in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria   (@Vatican Media)

“The Gospel becomes concrete”

Reflecting on the Gospel passage of Matthew 25, the Pope said the Word of God takes on flesh in places such as Arguineguín, where people arrive “stripped of almost everything, but never of their dignity.”

“Here the Gospel pulls us out of our comfortable position as spectators and places before us a brother or a sister who has arrived,” he said. “It asks us if we have recognised Christ in those who disembark, marked by fear, hunger and violence, after enduring the desert, the night and the sea.”

Recalling the symbolism of the Fisherman's Ring he wears as Successor of Peter, Pope Leo reflected on Christ’s call to Peter to become a “fisher of people.”

“Here, people are rescued from the sea, and lifeless bodies are recovered from the waters,” he said. “For this reason, the Successor of Peter cannot ignore these docks. The Church cannot ignore these waters.”

Read the full text of Pope Leo's address at the meeting

Pope Leo XIV at the meeting with migrants and those who rescue and accompany them in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria   (@Vatican Media)

The sea and its “monsters”

Drawing on biblical imagery, the Pope described the sea as a place where danger and chaos coexist with hope.

“Even today, monsters lurk in these seas,” he warned, referring to “mafias that profit from despair, traffickers who enslave women and children, and those whose indifference allows the poor to be swallowed up by exploitation or forgetfulness.”

Yet he insisted that faith cannot be paralysed by fear.

“If Christ commands the sea to be still, the Church cannot remain silent about those who are abandoned to its waters,” he said.

Faces, not statistics

One salient moment of the meeting was the testimony of Tito Villarmea, a Maritime Rescue captain who has helped save more than 20,000 people at sea.

He recalled a rescue operation involving a woman travelling with what appeared to be her teenage son. Once safely aboard the rescue vessel, she removed the child’s cap and jacket and placed gold earrings in the youngster’s ears. “It was a girl,” he said, remembering how both of them burst into tears.

The Pope thanked those who shared their stories and praised the work of rescuers, Caritas volunteers and parish communities, saying their witness reveals how “the migrant ceases to be ‘just one more’, a mere category or a statistic.”

“Only then can we understand that that little girl could be our daughter, and that those faces could be part of our family,” he said.

He also highlighted the testimony of María Reyes Alemán Cruz, who coordinated parish efforts during the migration emergency and spoke of discovering that accompanying others often begins with simple gestures: a pair of shoes, a coat, a cup of coffee, or simply being present.

“Mercy begins with small gestures,” the Pope said,  “The goal is not to solve everything, but to place everything in God’s hands and to be present where people suffer.”

Pope Leo XIV at the meeting with migrants and those who rescue and accompany them in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria   (@Vatican Media)

A message to victims of trafficking

One emotionally charged testimony came through the story of Blessing, a Nigerian woman trafficked for sexual exploitation whose account was read on her behalf for security reasons.

She described leaving her homeland because poverty left her no alternative, being subjected to a ritual of coercion, crossing the sea under terrifying conditions, and ultimately being forced into prostitution.

Addressing her directly, Pope Leo offered words of consolation and affirmation. “If others have put a price on your body, know that God has never ceased to recognise your inestimable worth,” he said.

“If others treat you like an object, the Church wants to tell you today that you are a daughter and a sister; you are a blessing.”

He assured trafficking victims that their dignity remains intact despite the violence they have suffered. “Your life belongs to God, who has given you a dignity that cannot be taken from you,” he reiterated.

Pope Leo XIV's meeting with migrants and support organizations at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria   (@Vatican Media)

An appeal to Europe and the world

Affirming that he bows before the dignity of every migrant, Pope Leo addressed them directly, saying, “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.”

At the same time, he warned them against traffickers and criminal networks that prey on desperation, calling their false promises “siren songs” and “industries of death.”

And broadening his appeal to governments and international institutions, he insisted that responsibility must be shared. The tragedy of migration, he continued, challenges countries of origin to create conditions for peace, justice and development; transit countries to protect vulnerable people from criminal networks; and Europe not to become accustomed to “the Mediterranean and the Atlantic becoming unmarked graves.”

“It is not enough to manage arrivals, distribute statistics, reinforce borders or lament deaths after they have occurred,” he affirmed.

“Every boat that arrives brings a question along with the migrants," Pope Leo highlighted, posing the question: "What kind of world have we built, if so many brothers and sisters must risk death to seek life?”

The right not to migrate

Pope Leo also stressed that migration policy must be rooted in respect for human dignity, and he called for legal and safe pathways, effective protection for trafficking victims, international cooperation against smugglers, and meaningful processes of reception and integration.

While reaffirming the right to seek refuge, he also spoke of another often overlooked right: the right not to be forced to flee:  “There is also the right not to have to migrate,” he said, the right to remain in one’s homeland free from hunger, war, persecution, corruption and environmental degradation.

Pope Leo XIV's meeting with migrants and support organizations at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria]   (@Vatican Media)

“What remains of our humanity?”

The meeting concluded with a floral tribute and a minute of silence in memory of those who have died attempting sea crossings. The Pope then blessed a cross fashioned from the wood of a migrant boat at the nearby shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, patroness of seafarers.

Before departing, he greeted volunteers and migrants gathered along the waterfront as his warning echoed across the harbour and beyond: 

“Today, here by the sea, every individual that arrives asks us what remains of our humanity, (...)  Sooner or later, it will be known whether we protected life or whether we yielded to indifference.”