Pope Leo XIV has called for an “examination of conscience” on migration, warning that the world must not become accustomed to counting the dead or treating migrants as mere statistics.
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The Pope made the call on Thursday during a visit to the port of Arguineguín in Spain’s Canary Islands, a site that became a symbol of Europe’s migration crisis after thousands of migrants were left crowded outdoors there in 2020.
The small fishing port on the southwest coast of Gran Canaria was once described as the “dock of shame” after more than 2,600 migrants were left sleeping on concrete for weeks after crossing the Atlantic in fragile boats from Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Morocco and parts of the Sahara.
But during his visit, Pope Leo XIV sought to turn the site into what many present described as a dock of hope.
“It is not enough to manage arrivals, distribute figures, reinforce borders, or mourn the dead once they have already died,” the Pope said.
He said human dignity requires safe and legal migration routes, rescue and assistance for those in danger, real cooperation against traffickers, effective protection for victims, serious processes of welcome and integration, and policies that allow people to live with dignity in their own countries.
According to him, while people have a right to seek refuge when their lives are threatened, they also have a right not to be forced to migrate.
He described that right as the right to remain in one’s home without hunger, war, persecution, violence, corruption, uninhabitable land or weapons destroying the future of children.
“We cannot grow accustomed to counting the dead,” Pope Leo said.
“Human dignity has no passport and does not lose its value when crossing a border.”
The visit to the Canary Islands was the final stop of the Pope’s trip to Spain and one of its most symbolic moments, coming at a time when migration remains a painful issue in Europe and beyond.
“This tragedy must become an examination of conscience,” he said.
The Pope directed his message to countries of origin, countries of transit, Europe, the international community and the Church.
He said countries of origin must create conditions of peace, justice and development, while countries of transit must not leave vulnerable people in the hands of criminal networks.
Addressing Europe directly, the Pope said the continent cannot proclaim human dignity while becoming accustomed to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic turning into cemeteries without headstones.
He also called on the international community to pursue effective and sustained cooperation in addressing migration.
The Pope said the Church must also allow itself to be challenged by the plight of migrants, insisting that welcoming migrants must not be treated as a secondary duty or left only to a few volunteers.
“We kneel before the altar to adore Christ present in the Eucharist, from whom we receive the strength and the reason to live charity,” he said.
“Therefore, we cannot then pass by the cayucos and pateras, because from prayer all service flows and to it every commitment returns.”
He invoked the biblical figures of Leviathan and Rahab to describe the “monsters” that lurk in the seas, including mafias that traffic in despair, traffickers who enslave women and children, and the indifference of those who allow the poor to be swallowed by exploitation or forgotten.
However, he said faith must not remain paralysed in the face of danger and death.
“We believe in a God who subdues chaos, sets limits to evil, and opens a path when death seems to prevail,” he said.
According to him, where Christ commands the sea to be silent, the Church cannot remain silent before those abandoned to its waters.
The Pope said true conversion begins when the migrant stops being treated as a category, a number or just another person.
Leo’s visit to the Canary Islands was one Pope Francis had wanted to make but was unable to carry out. His message echoed the one Francis delivered in Lampedusa in 2013, when he condemned global indifference to migrant deaths at sea.
The Pope is also scheduled to visit the Italian island of Lampedusa on July 4.
During the event, Pope Leo listened to testimonies from people directly involved in the migration crisis.
Tito Villarmea, captain of the maritime rescue vessel Urania, said he had helped rescue more than 20,000 people in 18 years, describing the figure as “a number that hurts and is not forgotten.”
He recalled a rescue operation involving a mother and child in a small boat surrounded by wounded people and lifeless bodies. According to him, once the child was safely on board, the mother removed the child’s cap and jacket and brought out gold earrings, revealing that the child was a girl.
“She cried and I cried, because I am the father of two teenagers,” he said.
A Caritas volunteer, María Reyes Alemán, also addressed the Pope and spoke about accompanying migrants during the humanitarian crisis.
She said the work taught volunteers that it was not always about solving everything, but about being present, adding that even small gestures such as a smile or a look could communicate hope.
Another testimony came from Blessing, a Nigerian woman and trafficking survivor, whose letter was read aloud because she could not be present for security reasons.
Blessing said she left Nigeria at the age of 22, leaving behind her two daughters. She recalled seeing people who had departed before her group drown while attempting to cross the sea.
She said traffickers subjected her to a “juju” ritual and told her she owed them €25,000, which she would have to pay after arriving in Europe.
During six months of captivity, she became pregnant by a man connected to the trafficking network.
“When I arrived in Spain, they took my baby away from me to force me into prostitution,” she said.
She said her forced enslavement ended when her son was 11 months old and police arrested those holding her captive, adding that the Church helped her rebuild her life.
Pope Leo warned migrants not to trust those who exploit their hopes for a better future.
“Do not believe those who promise easy paradises in exchange for your body, your money, your silence, or your freedom,” he said.
He described such false promises as “siren songs” and “industries of death.”
The Pope also mentioned El Hierro, the least populated of the Canary Islands, which has become a major arrival point for migrants, with more than 50,000 irregular arrivals since 2020.
He said El Hierro had seen thousands of people arrive after being torn from their lands and entrusted to the fragility of small boats.
According to him, because lifeless bodies have also been recovered from the waters, “the successor of Peter cannot turn away from these docks.”
The event ended with a floral offering in memory of victims of migration by sea.
The Pope later went to a nearby image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, patroness of sailors, where he blessed a cross erected as a permanent memorial to those who never reached their destination.
According to the NGO Caminando Fronteras, at least 3,090 people died in 2025 while trying to reach the Canary Islands.
A year earlier, more than 46,000 migrants reached the archipelago off northwestern Africa, marking a record year, often in overcrowded and unsafe boats.
Although irregular sea arrivals to Spain have reportedly fallen this year, rescue operations have continued in dangerous conditions.
Spain’s Interior Ministry said 10,224 migrants arrived irregularly in Spain between January 1 and May 31, a 35.2 percent drop from 15,769 recorded during the same period last year. However, irregular land entries into Ceuta and Melilla rose by 210 percent to 2,366 people.
Pope Leo, who has recently spoken strongly about the direction of global leadership, had earlier told the Spanish parliament that lack of help for migrants was challenging the ethical foundation of the international order.
Spain has adopted a more open position on migration than many European countries, including a programme to grant residency to more than half a million undocumented people.
However, the policy has drawn criticism from far-right leaders in Spain and across Europe, while the country continues to struggle with delays in regularising the status of thousands of migrants.
In his address, Pope Leo urged the world not to allow history to accuse it of turning the pain of suffering migrants into the “usual landscape” of its coasts.
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