The Pope shames xenophobes: "Human dignity has no passport"

Special envoy to the Canary Islands (Arguineguín dock)"Dear migrants, I want to bow before your dignity. Human dignity has no passport nor does it lose value when crossing a border." With these words, Pope Leo XIV made a call this Thursday to shake consciences about immigration and shamed xenophobia from the place where the drama of immigration in Spain is experienced most intensely: the Canary Islands. In an event with immigrants from the Arguineguín pier, in Gran Canaria, also known as the "pier of shame" – where nearly 3,000 people were crammed during the pandemic – he strongly criticized Europe's "indifference" and asked for "an examination of conscience." An examination that he extended to the countries of origin and transit, regarding the conditions that drive emigration and recruitment by mafias, in a plea for international cooperation.

Forcefully, he stated that Europe "cannot proclaim human dignity and get used to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic being cemeteries without tombstones." The figures are devastating in the Canary archipelago, visited for the first time by a pontiff: a total of 635 people have died in the first six months of this year on the maritime route to reach the islands, according to the Caminando Fronteras report. Thus, the Pope threw a dart at the rulers: "By the sea, every life that arrives asks us what remains of our humanity. Sooner or later it will be known if we knew how to guard it or if we let indifference speak for us." Leo XIV also called for continuing rescues, assisting migrants, ensuring "serious reception and integration processes" and with "policies that allow people to live with dignity," and guaranteeing the "right to asylum" and the "right not to migrate."

Usma felt comforted by the Pope's words. He is one of those who arrived on the island in 2020 via this pier and is now one of the members of the associations working with immigrants: he ended up there with nothing, suffering the dangers of a sea full of death, and tells ARA his emotion at Leo XIV's words. "I liked it a lot," says this practicing Muslim from Senegal, who applauds the head of Catholics with fervor. This is coexistence and harmony with his words, in his opinion.

criticism of national priority from CongressThe PSOE takes advantage of it

With Spanish President Pedro Sánchez in the front row of the authorities, the state government has sought to use the pontiff for internal politics to endorse its migratory discourse and attack the PP and Vox. For this reason, the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, made statements to the press from the Gran Canaria Stadium, where the pontiff officiated another massive mass this afternoon: "The PP and Vox should listen to the Pope more," he stated, calling for humanity. The contradictions of the right and far-right on immigration, particularly regarding the Church, have been the main escape valve used by the Spanish government while cases of alleged corruption plague it. The criticism of national priority from Congress did not go unnoticed by Sánchez either. criticism of national priority from Congress also did not go unnoticed by Sánchez.

In any case, the Pope's call to action began with Catholics and ended with leaders. "By the sea, the word becomes concrete," he said, urging the promotion of welcome, even incorporating it into the visit's motto, which became "Lift your gaze and welcome." For this reason, he assured that "the Church cannot turn a blind eye to these waters or to any place where hunger, thirst, violence, fear, or exile continue to wound human dignity," and said that action implies that believers cannot kneel before Christ and "pass by" the rafts. Words similar to those he pronounced in Madrid at the youth vigil.

Leo XIV's reflection is that immigrants could be anyone's children and that "it is not enough to manage arrivals and distribute figures," but rather to consider what has generated this world for such dangerous flows to multiply. Last year, more than 11,000 people arrived on the Canary Islands' coasts. Pope Francis began his pontificate with a visit to the Italian island of Lampedusa, where the drama of immigration and deaths at sea are a torment. Leo XIV has already visited several African countries such as Algeria and Cameroon, and now the Canary Islands, a trip pending for Francis, which precedes a visit to Lampedusa next month.

Commitment

Testimonies like Aiu, a victim of human trafficking, or a member of maritime rescue, Tito Villarmea, have caused moments of emotion for the pontiff, who in the morning's event laid a floral offering for those who died at sea. In the afternoon, at mass, he developed the concept of charity, relating it to the "welcome" of foreigners on this island, and to the action to "integrate people into their full realization," with "commitment" and "with humility." He also said that wealth makes humans "blind" and that those who act "learned" are mistaken. Perhaps he was thinking of people like the Vice President of the USA, J.D. Vance, who dared to give lessons on faith and war to the pontiff to justify his imperialism.