The Church and the organizers of the visit of Pope Leo XIV to the Canary Islands have asked that there be no classes in Gran Canaria on June 11 and in Tenerife on the 12th given the unprecedented mobilization that is expected on both islands on the occasion of the first stay of a pontiff in the archipelago.
The Government delegate, Anselmo Pestana, and the auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Canarias, Cristóbal Déniz, have also made an appeal to public administrations and large companies to facilitate teleworking on those days on both islands and to citizens to avoid, if possible, using private cars.
Pestana and Déniz have met this Wednesday in Las Palmas with the security forces involved in the mobility device that will ensure that the pope's route through Gran Canaria proceeds without incidents: from the Arguineguín pier, in the south, where his visit begins, to the Gran Canaria stadium, in the capital, where he expects to gather more than 60,000 people.
The public wishing to attend that public event planned for the stadium and its surroundings in the Siete Palmas neighborhood must register, a process that will begin shortly and that will select applications on a first-come, first-served basis, according to the auxiliary bishop, who has announced that this Friday the Diocese of Canarias will inform in a press conference of all the details of this visit.
The Gran Canaria Arena and the parking lot annexed to the Gran Canaria stadium will also be used for this event, which can be followed in these locations through large screens, it has been specified.
That day, efforts will be made to ensure that all accesses to Siete Palmas are made via public transport to avoid traffic collapses and to guarantee "that everything works", since many more curious people will be added to the 60,000 people who will be able to register around the sports venue, Pestana has stressed.
It is sought, he has said, that "that day be a success for Gran Canaria, a success for the Canary Islands and, of course, a projection of Spain also abroad that we know how to organize things and we know how to face important challenges"
"This is the most important challenge I have had in these six years," admitted the Government delegate in the islands.
Pestana has warned that, in addition to those who attend, with prior registration, the act of Leo XIV in the stadium, it is expected that his stay in Gran Canaria will mobilize "many tens of thousands more people" who will want to see him pass during his displacements towards the south and towards the island's capital, for which a traffic plan has been designed that foresees carrying out up to 48 punctual cuts to facilitate and guarantee the safety of all journeys.
To this end, "the probably most important security deployment of recent years" will also be deployed, in which "thousands of agents" will participate, many of them displaced from the peninsula.
Given the large influx of people expected to gather on the occasion of this papal visit, the organization has also contacted Telefónica to reinforce telecommunications services, in anticipation that they may collapse due to the concentration of telephone and other types of terminals.
The auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Canarias, Cristóbal Déniz, has stated that the objective of this historic visit is "that it be taken advantage of by the greatest number of our people" and that it take place "with the greatest safety" when accessing the places where it will take place "in the best conditions".
"We are very happy preparing all the moments of encounter with our people and we wish it to be a happy event for everyone", Déniz has asserted, who has highlighted that nearly a thousand volunteers have already offered to help, a number that he has trusted will be surpassed in the coming weeks.
"They are going to be very useful to us, they are going to be very necessary so that in the different spaces we can contribute to the security, organization and mobility of the Pope," said the prelate, who has estimated that next week the registration process will open, through parishes and groups, but also individually, to attend this event.
