Pope Leo Lights Up Canary Islands, Calling Out Migrant Risks

By Sarah Rainsford, Southern and Eastern Europe correspondent, Canary Islands

Pope Leo will debut a seven‑day tour of the Spanish islands, with Gran Canaria and Tenerife highlighted as hotspots where the Vatican patriarch aims to shine a light on the perilous maritime journeys that thousands risk each year. His message will echo the humanitarian call made by the Good Samaritan Foundation, which is now offering legal routes for migrants via a Spanish government initiative that opens regulation to those who arrived before the start of 2025.

Bakary Jaiju, a 19‑year‑old from The Gambia, is one of the very people Pope Leo will speak of. In June 2025, Bakary boarded a wooden boat, facing a week of dwindling supplies, and eventually made landfall in Tenerife after a rescue off El Hierro. He holds that his sacrifice was a selfish gamble for his family, leaving a son and wife behind in the hope that the “better life” would let him return.

The Pope promises to advocate for “safe and legal pathways” while also urging France, Spain and other EU members to “give a respectful welcome” to those who were rescued from smugglers’ basic boats. He will emphasise the need to counter the “ideological invasion” narrative that has come to dominate political discourse about migration.

The EU’s new pact will see authorities empowered to detain and deport sea arrivals more quickly—policy that may undermine the work window of migrants who, like Bakary, are already risking their lives for a chance to stay. Meanwhile, the Canary Islands local economy is feeling the pinch of labour shortages and the uphill battle of integrating young migrants into a region that has struggled to let them succeed once they age past 18.

In Gran Canaria, Pope Leo will drop symbolic flowers into the waves as a tribute to migrant boats that vanished without trace. Local companies, such as the Domingo Alonso Group, have begun hiring gifted teenagers first‑time workers—an approach that received backlash from those who see migration as a threat to Italian jobs, but has now proven to uplift both migrants and local economies.

While the Vatican's voice brings compassion to the debate, the Canary Islands department warns that protectionist talk is “shutting us out of the door of migrants, and risking the collapse of public services.” The Pope’s visit may push for an alternative that stops people from having to risk their lives but also allows them to work, study and integrate into Spanish life.