BARCELONA, Spain (AP) 鈥� is delving into the hotly contested issue of migration by visiting two flashpoints 鈥� in the Atlantic next week, and Italy鈥檚 in the Mediterranean in early July.
These rocky, remote outposts of Europe have struggled with the arrival of tens of thousands of mostly African migrants through some of the world’s . Even as numbers decreased this year, especially in the Canaries, the issue continues to roil politics in these historically Catholic countries.
Many Catholics and migrants hope the upcoming papal trips will refocus attention on solidarity and support 鈥� and away from divisive political debate that is splitting the right in addition to pitting it against the left.
鈥淪tuck in the middle are the migrants,鈥� said the Most Rev. Jos茅 Mazuelos, the bishop of Canarias, whose diocese includes several of the islands. 鈥淪o the church says, 鈥楲et鈥檚 give them a face, because we鈥檙e talking about people, not numbers.鈥�”
Among them is Eslim Jallow, 27. Dreaming of a more prosperous future, Jallow and his younger brother left Gambia and landed in the Canary Islands in 2023. At first, Jallow struggled to adapt, but he quickly learned Spanish, took courses and now earns a living as a programmer and web developer in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
鈥淧erhaps the pope will change the way in which people here look at immigrants,鈥� Jallow said. 鈥淚mmigrants should be treated with dignity and respect, not ignored.鈥�
Like most migrants arriving in the islands, he isn鈥檛 Catholic. But he feels that Leo 鈥渟peaks for us, he reminds the world we are also human beings.鈥�
The Catholic Church鈥檚 ministry to migrants
Advocating for migrants globally was a priority for He went to Lampedusa in 2013 on his first pastoral visit outside Rome and, three years later on the Greek island of Lesbos, he a dozen Syrian Muslim refugees.
Under Leo, the Catholic Church has continued to call for their humane treatment around the world, including in his home country, the United States.
鈥淧ope Leo is signaling how important immigration is to him by doing these two trips early in his papacy,鈥� said Michele Pistone, a Villanova University professor who leads its new center on immigration.
In the Canaries, Leo is expected at the port of Arguinegu铆n, on the island of Gran Canaria, on June 11 to pay homage to thousands of migrants who died or disappeared en route. The next day, he will meet migrants at a camp on the island of Tenerife.
The archipelago has been the epicenter of a humanitarian crisis that in 2024 saw the arrival of nearly 47,000 migrants from North and West Africa, including several thousand minors.
Like Jallow, half of them landed in El Hierro island 鈥� nearly triple its population, said the Most Rev. Eloy Santiago, bishop of Tenerife, whose diocese includes that smaller island. Its resources were strained to a breaking point, even though most migrants only stayed a few days.
鈥淚f a boat arrives, the couple of local doctors have to go out running to take care of them, and then the local residents who had their medical appointments can鈥檛 have them,鈥� Santiago said.
Catholic organizations are among those that aid migrants from the moment they step out of rickety, overcrowded boats.
Arrivals have slowed dramatically this year, in part due to stricter controls along the African coast. But the most challenging task remains 鈥� how to help those who arrived as minors, were entrusted to state care, and are thrown out into the streets when they turn 18, often with no job prospects and no support.
Jallow fears what will happen to his younger brother when he reaches adulthood next year. He鈥檚 been paralyzed from the neck down since he had an accident soon after arriving in the Canaries and lives in a Catholic hospital in Las Palmas.
Caya Su谩rez, secretary general for the Catholic charity Caritas in the Canaries, has seen firsthand how migrants coming of age on the islands are the most vulnerable.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a very bad moment, even though they鈥檇 been waiting for it with hope, because they see they are still stuck without alternatives,鈥� she said.
Caritas tries to help the young adults find housing and jobs, she added. It鈥檚 also relocated a few young migrants to Madrid, a small village in the largely rural region of Galicia, and elsewhere on the mainland, with the help of parishes there even as the governments of other Spanish regions have been reluctant to take on underage migrants.
Spain鈥檚 migrant amnesty and continuing challenges
Many residents in the Canaries feel like they鈥檝e been abandoned to cope with an unsolvable problem 鈥� how to stretch even farther resources for migrants who thought they鈥檇 be within reach of economic prosperity and free to travel across the European Union, and instead end up on the street, struggling to send remittances home but also to leave.
Compounded with the perception that national and European political institutions tend to see it as an exclusively 鈥渋sland problem,鈥� the situation is generating a growing malaise even among generous islanders who have long been accustomed to migration to and from Latin America, the Canaries鈥� bishops said.
鈥淭he pope鈥檚 word can help so that in the middle of this fatigue, people can buck up again because they see they are supported,鈥� said Santiago, who was born and ordained a priest on the islands.
At the national level, Spain鈥檚 Catholic Church also backed a new giving temporary residency permits to potentially more than half a million foreigners in the country illegally, many from Latin America.
They often work in hospitality, agriculture and eldercare, boosting the economy, according to the socialist government of Prime Minister 鈥� and to the church.
鈥淚n the matter of immigration, the church鈥檚 position gets into a head-on collision with the position of the right,鈥� said Pablo Sim贸n, a political science professor at University Carlos III in Madrid.
That has created a rift between the church and far-right parties, like Vox in Spain, which has criticized the church on immigration, despite often couching its anti-migrant rhetoric in religious terms.
The Rev. Fernando Redondo, who leads the migration department of the Spanish bishops鈥� conference, said the church鈥檚 stance is in line with the Christian mandate to welcome the stranger. But he added it needs better understanding among the many faithful who believe migrants come to steal jobs or live off welfare.
鈥淲e have a big challenge, which is raising awareness among our faithful 鈥� that from the viewpoint of faith, to welcome a migrant person is to welcome Christ himself,鈥� Redondo said. 鈥淭hen, of course, there needs to be ways, proper social and political ways, so that migration doesn鈥檛 become a total mess.鈥�
Hoping for words of reconciliation in the Canary Islands
In the Canaries, ordinary people have been on the frontlines of that often life-endangering chaos 鈥� fishermen who hand out drinking water to migrants on ramshackle rafts, sunbathers who run into the sea to help landing migrants, the volunteers who greet them in more than a dozen languages.
But they have also seen that integration can work, as in a small mountain village that was emptying out until a center for three dozen migrant children was opened, creating jobs and filling up the school 鈥� and the local church鈥檚 annual feast day procession.
That鈥檚 why many look forward to Leo bringing a simple but crucial message of reconciliation that focuses on the people impacted, not on the politics.
鈥淭he pope doesn鈥檛 support this slogan of 鈥榣et鈥檚 go, open doors for the whole world here.鈥� Nobody supports that,鈥� Mazuelos said. 鈥淲hen here comes a gentleman in a wooden boat after five days in the Atlantic, what are we supposed to do, kick him back? We鈥檝e got to find a way to welcome him.鈥�
___
Dell’Orto reported from Minneapolis.
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP鈥檚 with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
