Pope Leo XIV to Europe: "One cannot speak of dignity and allow the seas to be cemeteries"

León XIV has criticized Europe this Thursday on migration issues because "one cannot speak of dignity and allow the seas to be cemeteries".

He has also criticized the entire international community because "it is not enough to manage arrivals, distribute figures, reinforce borders or lament deaths when they have already occurred," as he said in his speech this Thursday at the port of Arguineguín (Gran Canaria).

In this enclave, a point of arrival for migrants on routes from Africa, the pope has directed his indignation to all parties and said that the migratory drama "must become an examination of conscience." 

In a very harsh address, the pope expressed hope that the voice of the dramatic testimonies that spoke on Thursday at the port will reach "those who hold decisive responsibilities in their hands"

"It is not enough to manage arrivals, distribute figures, reinforce borders or lament deaths when they have already occurred. Every boat that arrives does not just bring migrants; it brings with it a question: what world have we built, if so many brothers have to risk death to seek life?".
He reproached Europe, stating that "it cannot proclaim human dignity and become accustomed to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic being cemeteries without tombstones."

He has urged the countries of origin to create "conditions of peace, justice, and development" and has called on transit countries "to protect and not leave the vulnerable in the hands of criminal networks."
And he has launched an appeal to the entire international community for "effective and persevering cooperation" to be activated.

But he has also sent a message to the Church, to which he has stressed that "the reception of migrants cannot be a secondary matter nor delegated solely to some volunteers." "We cannot pass by the cayucos and pateras," he highlighted.

León XIV's indignation resonated just 24 hours before the European Pact on Migration and Asylum comes into force, which enshrines the principle of border detention and allows states to be exempted from hosting their quota of refugees to help receiving countries if they pay 20,000 euros per person. 

The pontiff also stressed that "human dignity demands legal and safe pathways, rescue and assistance, real cooperation against traffickers, effective protection for victims, serious reception and integration processes, and policies that allow each person to live with dignity in their own land."

Although he has pointed out that "while there is a right to seek refuge when life is threatened, there is also the right not to have to migrate: the right to remain in one's own home without hunger, without war, without persecution, without violence, without the earth becoming uninhabitable, without corruption stealing the bread of the poor, without weapons destroying the future of children". 

"We cannot get used to counting the dead. Human dignity has no passport nor does it lose value when crossing a border," he has cried from the pier.

The Pope has said goodbye with a warning: "Here, by the sea, every life that arrives asks us what remains of our humanity. Sooner or later, it will be known whether we knew how to protect it or if we let indifference speak for us."