Standing at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, where thousands of migrants arrive each year after dangerous journeys from Africa, Pope Leo XIV recalled the Biblical sea monsters Leviathan and Rahab.

Yet the greatest threats lurking in these waters, he said, are not creatures of Scripture.

"Monsters lurk in these seas: mafias that profit from despair, traffickers who enslave women and children, and those whose indifference allows the poor to be swallowed up by exploitation or forgetfulness," he said June 11 in the Canary Islands.

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In his first stop of the final leg of his apostolic journey to Spain, Pope Leo delivered an impassioned speech on migration. Those "monsters" are real as more than 3,000 people died or disappeared while trying to reach the Canary Islands in 2025, according to the Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras. More than 10,000 people were recorded to have drowned along this dangerous migration route in 2024, it added.

Pope Leo appealed to the nations of origin of the migrants, saying they must establish conditions for peace, justice and development and he appealed to transit nations to protect people from criminal networks.

"It is likewise an appeal to the conscience of Europe, which cannot claim to uphold human dignity while growing accustomed to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic becoming unmarked graves, as well as that of the international community, which is called to effective and persevering cooperation," he said.

Becoming the first Pope in history to visit this autonomous community of Spain, Pope Leo was also fulfilling his predecessor's desire to visit the migrants arriving to these shores and the people who rescue them and offer them assistance.

"Here, people are rescued from the sea and lifeless bodies are recovered from the waters," Pope Leo said to those gathered at the port, including dozens of rescuers, ranging from simple fishermen to government maritime patrols.

"The successor of Peter cannot ignore these docks," he said. "The Church cannot ignore these waters or any place where hunger, thirst, violence, fear or exile continue to wound human dignity. Jesus’ disciples cannot dismiss the cries of those who call out in the night."

With two young men from Africa by his side, the Pope tossed a floral bouquet in the blue water to honour and pray for the dead.

The Pope also prayed before a statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, patroness of sailors, and he blessed a wooden Cross fashioned from the wreckage of boats capsized and destroyed on their voyage.

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The visit comes as Spain recently launched a mass regularization program aimed at legalizing the status of some 500,000 undocumented migrants. Meanwhile, many European Union member states have been enacting increasingly restrictive and punitive asylum rules, according to Amnesty International's European Institutions Office, and holding centres can be slow to process and unable to properly care for massive influxes of migrants.

"Human dignity demands legal and safe pathways, rescue and assistance, real cooperation against traffickers, effective protection for victims, serious processes of reception and integration, and policies that allow every person to live with dignity in their own land," the Pope said.

A rescuer, a charity worker and an immigrant turned entrepreneur told the Pope their stories of perseverance despite so many obstacles in their way. Pope Leo said he wanted the voices of the men and women who had spoken at the port to reach everyone, especially those in government and international organizations, and people of faith and good will.

"We cannot grow accustomed to counting the dead," he said. "Human dignity has no passport and does not lose its value when crossing a border."

In his forceful plea for migrants and refugees, the Ppope posed the question of what kind of world society has created "if so many brothers and sisters must risk death to seek life?"

Following his visit to the port, the Pope met with the diocese's Catholic community for a meeting at its cathedral and a Mass in the island's stadium.

These were the moments the Pope connected the Sacred Heart of Jesus, celebrated June 12, with the Christian duty and ability to carry the Cross of real solidarity.

"Indeed, our charity must not be mere material assistance, but must foster the integral development of the person — spiritual, intellectual and physical — and his or her dignified and constructive integration into the community," he said in his homily during Mass in the Gran Canaria Stadium.

Those who pretend to be self-sufficient and know everything believe they don't need God or others, he said in his homily.

"The Heart of Jesus is humble," he said. He teaches that to experience the true joy of life, "we must step down from the pedestals of arrogance that divide us and see ourselves in the humility that unites us."

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"The first 'guiding principle,' therefore, is to take up the Cross of Christ," he said earlier at the cathedral the same day. "You do this every day, for example, as good Samaritans, accompanying and helping to carry the burdens of so many brothers and sisters who are crucified by life’s trials.

"Our vocation and mission: to build the Church together, founded on Christ, the 'cornerstone,' to build on what is good, to harmonize our differences and to work together for the good of all," he said.