If the papal trip to Spain had an underlying message, it is the one that took place this Thursday at the Arguineguín dock, in Gran Canaria. There, next to two migrant survivors of the crossings from Africa, Leo XIV threw a bouquet of flowers into the sea in memory of the thousands of people who die every year in the Atlantic trying to reach the archipelago. According to data from the NGO Caminando Fronteras, 635 people have already died since the beginning of the year. In this scenario, the pontiff's words were very forceful on the very day the so-called Migration Pact in the European Union comes into force: "Human dignity has no passport and does not lose value when crossing a border – he recalled–. What remains of our humanity?", he asked.

In his crusade against irregular immigration, The Italian government built a very expensive detention center in Albania to deport undocumented immigrants. Intercepted in the Mediterranean Sea, the practically empty vessel began a war against rescue NGOs and limited the recognition of the right to international protection, among other measures. Now, the government led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is going a step further and proposing to block ships and expedite the summary deportations of migrants, even in countries other than their countries of origin.