Sawt Falasteen - Pope arrives in Spain's Canary Islands to meet migrants

The visit fulfils a long-held wish of his predecessor Francis, who died a year ago without making a planned trip to the islands, one of the main entry points into Europe for people fleeing conflict and poverty.

More than 46,000 migrants reached the archipelago off northwestern Africa in 2024, a record year, often in packed, unseaworthy boats.

Leo is due to visit the port of Arguineguin on the island of Gran Canaria, where he will meet migrants and lay a floral offering in honour of those who died during attempted crossings.

"We really value this visit. It's very important for us at such a critical moment," Mohamed Amjahdi, who arrived in the islands from Morocco when he was 17, told AFP in Arguineguin.

"We also appreciate the Catholic Church and the vital work it does for migrants. When it comes to helping migrants, there's no distinction," added Amjahdi, 37, a subdelegate of the Spanish Islamic Commission.

"It doesn't matter whether you're Christian or not, whether you're white or black -- everyone receives the same support."

Jose Antonio Rodriguez Verona, the regional Red Cross official responsible for the first emergency response for migrants arriving in the islands, told AFP: "We experienced many emotions here, and we still do."

"Many times there was joy because the intervention went well. But there were also times when we felt defeated because people arrived at the dock and died, or arrived already dead," he added.

Nearly 1,200 migrants died or went missing on the route to the Canary Islands last year, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

- 'Dock of shame' -

"Pope Francis wrote us a letter saying two things," Bishop Jose Mazuelos of the Canary Islands told AFP.

"One was his desire to come and encourage and accompany the people and Church of the Canary Islands in their response to migration," he said.

The other was "to shine a light on the issue and reality of migration", he added.

Arguineguin port became known as the "dock of shame" after more than 3,000 migrants slept there in the open or under makeshift shelters during a surge in arrivals in 2020.

The pope's visit seeks to "change that image of the dock of shame, which resulted from poor management of the humanitarian reception system, and turn it into a dock of integration", the secretary-general of Catholic charity Caritas in the Canary Islands, Caya Suarez, told AFP.

In an address to Spain's parliament on Monday, Leo called for "safe and legal pathways" for immigration and for migrants to be given "a respectful welcome and real opportunities for integration".

The pope's visit to Spain comes as Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's government has moved to regularise around 500,000 undocumented migrants, bucking a European trend of tightening restrictions on irregular immigration.

Thursday marks the penultimate day of the pope's week-long trip to Spain, which has included stops in Madrid and Barcelona.

The visit concludes on Friday on the island of Tenerife, where he is also scheduled to visit a migrant centre.

O.Salim--SF-PST