Leo XIV Bows Before Illegal Immigrants
He met at the port with NGOs and organizations who de facto practice human trafficking. The pope spread their stories that they “had saved some 20,000 migrants”.
Leo XIV dropped a wreath of flowers into the sea in tribute to the African migrants who had died while trying to enter the European Union.
In what he called an "appeal to the conscience" of politicians, he said that "human dignity has no passport and does not lose its value when crossing a border."
He warned “growing accustomed to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic becoming unmarked graves”.
Leo XIV also said: "Dear migrants, before saying anything else to you, I want to bow before your dignity. 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 also challenged “the Church”: “Welcoming migrants cannot be a secondary matter that is left to a few volunteers. We kneel before the altar to adore Christ present in the Eucharist, from whom we receive the strength and the motivation to live charity; for this reason, we cannot then ‘pass by’ the small boats and rafts, for all service and every commitment spring from prayer and lead back to it.”
The Canaries received a record 46,843 illegal immigrants in 2024, compared with fewer than 1,000 in 2015, according to official data.
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