Pope Leo XIV has delivered his strongest condemnation yet of Europe's treatment of migrants, warning that history will judge those who turn a blind eye to deaths at sea. Speaking on Thursday in Gran Canaria at the end of a week-long tour of Spain, the pontiff called for legal migration pathways and an end to indifference.
Standing near a memorial at the dock of Arguineguín, known as Spain's 'dock of shame', the Pope said: 'We cannot grow accustomed to counting the dead.' He criticised mafias trafficking in despair and leaders whose indifference allows the poor to be 'swallowed up by exploitation or oblivion'.
Last year, an estimated 1,906 people died attempting to cross into Europe along the perilous Atlantic route. The Pope singled out Europe, urging it to see migration as a 'call to conscience' and warning that the Mediterranean and Atlantic must not become 'graveyards without headstones'.
The event included testimony from a Nigerian woman who was trafficked into prostitution after crossing. The Pope told her she was 'a blessing from God'. He concluded by casting a wreath of flowers into the sea to mourn those who died during transit.
