Plane trouble delays Pope’s return after migrant-focused Spain visit

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Spain - Pope Leo XIV on June 12 wrapped up a week-long visit to Spain that highlighted migrant issues, but his return to Rome was held up after his plane experienced a technical problem.

The Pope had already boarded his Iberia flight in Tenerife after being waved off by Spanish King Felipe VI when the captain announced there was an engine problem.

Leo, 70, disembarked and finally departed around three hours later on a Falcon air force plane that had taken the king to Tenerife.

The rest of the papal delegation – including journalists and Vatican representatives – were due to return on a replacement plane being sent by Iberia from Madrid.

Before heading to the airport, the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics celebrated a mass in the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in front of around 40,000 people.

Earlier on June 12, Leo urged migrants to integrate by learning the language of their host country, respecting its laws and getting to know its customs.

Tenerife is one of Spain’s Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean off north-west Africa, a major destination for migrants braving risky sea crossings in hopes of reaching Europe.

He also warned that migrants face a “silent shipwreck” after arrival, saying they are “left alone in a city, without a voice, without ties, work or a sense of security”, during a meeting in Tenerife with organisations working with migrants.

The US-born Pope urged “those who organise death routes, traffic in human beings” to “stop and repent”, raising his voice for emphasis as the crowd applauded.

‘Wants to help us’

Candida Feo, 54, who turned out to see the Pope in Tenerife with her two children, welcomed his focus on the plight of migrants.

“If they come, it’s for a reason. So anything that helps focus attention on the issue seems very good to me,” she told AFP.

Aliu Ceesay, 16, who arrived in the Canary Islands by boat a month ago from Gambia in search of work to help his family, said he wanted to see the Pope in person after following him online.

“He is so kind, so good. He doesn’t care if we are black or white, Muslim or Christian. He wants to help us.” he told reporters in Tenerife as he waited for the Pope to arrive at an event.

Leo arrived in Tenerife from the neighbouring island of Gran Canaria, where he cast a wreath into the sea at the port of Arguineguin to honour the thousands who have died trying to reach the Canaries.

“Human dignity has no passport,” he said on the dockside before blessing a faded blue cross made of wood from a boat that migrants arrived on.

Abuse victims meeting

Nearly 1,200 people died or went missing travelling from Africa to the Canary Islands last year, according to the International Organization for Migration, making it one of the world’s deadliest migration routes.

In an address to Spain’s Parliament in Madrid on June 8, Leo called for “safe and legal pathways” for immigration and for migrants to be given “a respectful welcome and real opportunities for integration”.

In Madrid, the Pope also celebrated an open-air mass attended by over one million people, and spent an hour with six victims of sexual violence by the clergy.

His trip also took in Barcleona, where he blessed a giant new tower at the famed Sagrada Familia Basilica on the 100th anniversary of the death of its architect Antoni Gaudi.

The completion of the tower, the tallest of 18, means the basilica has now reached its full height of 172.5 metres, making it the world’s tallest church.

On July 4, Leo is scheduled to visit another port of call for migrants entering Europe, the Italian island of Lampedusa, solidifying the plight of migrants as a hallmark of his papacy. AFP