Pope tells traffickers of migrants in the Canary Islands: Stop, repent or face God's wrath

By — Associated Press Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/pope-tells-traffickers-of-migrants-in-the-canary-islands-stop-repent-or-face-gods-wrath Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Pope tells traffickers of migrants in the Canary Islands: Stop, repent or face God's wrath World Jun 12, 2026 2:38 PM EDT SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Spain (AP) — Pope Leo XIV warned people smugglers on Friday that they will face God's wrath for exploiting the desperation of migrants, demanding they stop and repent during his final day in this epicenter of the African migration route to Europe. For the second day in a row in the Canary Islands, the American pope insisted on the inherent dignity and rights of migrants and demanded they be welcomed and integrated into society, in some of his strongest comments on the politically divisive issue. PHOTOS: Pope Leo honors Gaudi's Sagrada Familia masterpiece in Barcelona "Break those chains and free those you hold in bondage," Leo said in a message to human traffickers that he delivered during a meeting with humanitarian aid organizations that help migrants on the island of Tenerife. Leo was wrapping up his weeklong trip to Spain in the Spanish archipelago, which is closer to Africa than the Iberian Peninsula and is a key point of entry for migrants who make the perilous Atlantic crossing from West Africa. READ MORE: Pope Leo urges Spanish bishops to provide reparations to abuse survivors His return to Rome was delayed when his Iberia charter flight developed a technical problem. King Felipe VI offered his private plane instead, and Leo accepted. The problem couldn't be fixed, so Iberia said it was sending a separate aircraft from Madrid to fetch the journalists and Vatican officials left behind in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. It was the first time in decades that a papal flight had experienced a problem so serious that it required the pope to deplane and change his travel plans. READ MORE: Pope Leo XIV warns against 'fanning the flames of polarization' on first papal visit to Spain in 15 years The pope had been fulfilling a wish of Pope Francis to visit the islands to commemorate the thousands of lives lost at sea. He is also drawing attention to the Catholic Church's biblically-mandated mantra to "welcome the stranger," amid anti-migrant sentiment in Europe and the Trump administration's mass deportation program in his native United States. During the encounter with aid groups in Tenerife, Leo implored receiving communities to integrate people fleeing war, poverty and climate change and spare them from the "silent shipwreck" of abandonment when they are left on the streets with nothing after surviving perilous crossings. WATCH: How EU efforts to stem migration affect a dangerous sea route to the Canary Islands "A human conscience, and even more so a Christian conscience, cannot remain indifferent in the face of these graveyards of the