(OSV News): During his final day in Spain, at the Plaza del Cristo de La Laguna in Tenerife, Pope Leo XIV strongly condemned human traffickers and those exploiting the vulnerable, demanding they “stop,” “repent,” and make amends.
“From this square, I wish to address a clear message to those who take advantage of people’s desperation, to those who organise death routes, traffic in human beings, withhold documents, exploit workers, threaten women, deceive families and turn the suffering of others into a business. Stop. Repent!” the pope exclaimed on June 12.
“For every life lost, every family deceived, every body subjugated, every woman threatened, every worker exploited, you will have to appear before divine justice,” he warned.
“Break those chains and free those you hold in bondage. Return what has been taken and make amends as much as you can. Repent while there is still time, for God’s mercy can reach even the most hardened sinner, but it enters only through the narrow gate of truth, justice and conversion,” the pope said.
The pope began his day meeting migrants at the Las Raíces Centre, a temporary reception centre housing 685 people, many from Africa.
…I wish to address a clear message to those who take advantage of people’s desperation, to those who organise death routes, traffic in human beings, withhold documents, exploit workers, threaten women, deceive families and turn the suffering of others into a business. Stop. Repent!
Pope Leo XIV
Welcoming Pope Leo, director Ernesto Mayoral noted that since 2021, the centre has housed over 54,000 migrants, offering “a dignified, humane, and organised initial reception at an especially difficult time, immediately upon their arrival by sea.”
After a welcome from Bishop Eloy Alberto Santiago, the pope listened to two migrants share their pain and struggles leaving home for a dangerous Atlantic crossing.
Speaking to migrants and volunteers, the pope reflected on their “wounded” hearts, comforted by “open, generous and merciful hearts,” and drew parallels to Christ’s own suffering, comforted by compassion.
He encouraged migrants to share their “treasures of your humanity, of your dreams and culture” and to “be open” to what was offered.
He said migration “can become an opportunity for encounter and mutual enrichment among peoples.”
While greeting migrants, a young girl in red asked to be carried; Pope Leo obliged, holding her as he greeted others.
After Las Raíces, he travelled to Plaza del Cristo de La Laguna to meet migration organisations, greeting 4,000 people as he circled the square in his popemobile.
For every life lost, every family deceived, every body subjugated, every woman threatened, every worker exploited, you will have to appear before divine justice
Pope Leo
Pope Leo left his popemobile to greet a man in a wheelchair, then walked to the main stage, greeting others on his way.
At the meeting, Father Darwin Rivas, a Venezuelan priest and migrant for seven years, described helping other migrants as “a hard but enriching experience.”
Senegalese migrant Mbacke thanked the pope “for not looking the other way” and asked him to “remind the world that behind every young migrant there is a dream, a mother who prays, and a life that deserves an opportunity.”
Pope Leo focused his address on stories “of pain, of hope and of searching” and the communities welcoming migrants to Tenerife.
He said, “In a city without walls, the heart too is called to open wide to welcome those who bring these stories with them,” he said. “That is why we need to “learn the language of closeness, which is understood more with hands than with words.”
He said Christian charity “flows from the love of God” and in the presence of the needy, “faith becomes concrete and love for Christ…transformed into deeds.”
Pope Leo stressed that “every welcoming society has responsibilities toward those who arrive,” ensuring their dignity, so “those who arrived as strangers can rediscover bonds, rebuild trust and feel like a living part of a community.”
He said, “A Church that welcomes is also a Church that proclaims, offering Christ without imposing him and which, at the same time, receives the gospel from the hands of the poor.”
