Pope Leo XIV continued his papal journey in Spain with a visit to the Canary Islands June 11, emphasizing the dignity of migrants and urging world leaders to protect and care for them.
The Pope began his visit at Arguineguín, a port on the island of Gran Canaria that became a symbol of migration in 2020 when thousands of migrants arrived in the Canary Islands after the outbreak of COVID-19, Vatican News reported.
Meeting with organizations that work with migrants, Pope Leo stressed that every person — including each migrant — retains his or her human dignity. He asked those gathered at the audience to remember to recognize Christ in the people they serve.
“Human dignity has no passport and does not lose its value when crossing a border,” he said.
The Pontiff also drew attention to human trafficking, noting that it often affects those fleeing their countries. He urged both migrants’ countries of origin and European nations to promote peace and justice as well as protecting the vulnerable.
Following a meeting with clergy, religious, seminarians, and pastoral workers at the Cathedral of St. Anne — where he encouraged them to embrace the Cross and the Eucharist — Pope Leo celebrated Mass at the Gran Canaria Stadium. During his homily, he emphasized the importance of developing love modeled on the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
God’s love is not “founded on calculation or on mere sentiment,” he said, but rather involves and consumes the whole person.
“For to love is innate to man,” he said. “Even more, it is a condition for the fullness of our very existence. In this way love is shown to us in the humanity of the Savior and in the movements of His Most Sacred Heart: unchanging and faithful even in the face of misunderstanding and rejection, fear, sadness, and human resistance.”
Citing Pope Francis, Pope Leo noted that the best way to reciprocate God’s love is to serve those sent by Him in the circumstances of daily life, especially those “most in need, defenseless, unable to give anything back.” The Holy Father also said that Jesus’ call to service involves a loving response to those who are suffering — one that includes lifting up and encouraging “the wounded so they rise and move forward, for a free and dignified life.”
“Effiectively, our charity must not be mere assistance, but rather the integration of people, for their full realization — spiritual, intellectual, and physical — and their dignified and constructive insertion in the community,” he continued. “Only in this way will our encounters, although faced with difficult and painful events, become an occasion to sow seeds of hope on humanity's journey toward a better future.”
The Pope concluded by reflecting on the virtue of humility, which he described as one of the characteristics of Jesus’ Sacred Heart. In humility, he said, a common bond of brotherhood can be discovered.
“Let us remember that we are the living presence of the Lord in the world,” Pope Leo said, encouraging those gathered in the stadium to make a new commitment to practicing charity for the good of Christ’s Church.
“Enkindled by the charity of His Heart, let us be bearers of His mercy and His peace, so that wars may cease in the world and a new humanity, reconciled in love, may grow around us,” the Holy Father said.
The Pope’s journey to Gran Canaria follows his visit to Barcelona, where he inaugurated and blessed the Tower of Jesus Christ at the Basilica of the Sagrada Família June 10.