Pope emphasizes importance of integrating migrants, calls on human traffickers to repent

June 13, 2026

In a meeting with members of organizations that minister to migrants on the Canary Islands, Pope Leo XIV reflected on the importance of integrating migrants into their new societies and called on human traffickers to repent (video).

“Christian charity flows from the love of God poured into the heart of the believer; for this reason, in the presence of the needy, faith becomes concrete and love for Christ is transformed into deeds,” Pope Leo said on June 12 at the Plaza del Cristo de La Laguna in San Cristóbal de La Laguna. “From this conviction, our presence aims to bear witness to the fact that solidarity arises from the recognition of human dignity and transcends any mere act of charity or philanthropy. It is called to be a commitment and to take the form of a process.”

“Welcome opens the door; integration helps one cross the threshold,” the Pope explained. “Assistance applies a salve to the wound, and integration rebuilds the future.”

Pope Leo added:

Integration does not mean erasing the history of those who arrive or demanding that they leave behind everything that is part of their memory. Nor does it mean creating parallel worlds, closed off from one another, where people live side by side without truly encountering one another. Integration is a reciprocal journey: those who arrive learn to inhabit a new land, and those who welcome them learn to expand their own homes without diluting their identity or closing their hearts to the encounter.

To you, dear migrant brothers and sisters, a noble and necessary part of this journey belongs: to open yourselves with trust to the community that welcomes you, to learn its language, to respect its laws, to get to know its customs, to participate in communal life and to offer your gifts with gratitude. Every welcoming society has responsibilities toward those who arrive, and those who are welcomed also discover that dignity, recognized as a right, flourishes when it becomes a duty and a sincere desire to build together with others.

In this way, those who arrived as strangers can rediscover bonds, rebuild trust and feel like a living part of a community. This is a precious form of mercy.

The Pontiff also called upon human traffickers to repent.

“From this square, I wish to address a clear message to those who take advantage of people’s desperation, to those who organize death routes, traffic in human beings, withhold documents, exploit workers, threaten women, deceive families and turn the suffering of others into a business. Stop. Repent,” Pope Leo said.

He added:

The tears and blood of these brothers and sisters cry out to God, and their suffering reaches him. The money wrested from the vulnerability of the poor will bring neither peace, nor honor, nor a future. For every life lost, every family deceived, every body subjugated, every woman threatened, every worker exploited, you will have to appear before divine justice.

Break those chains and free those you hold in bondage. Return what has been taken and make amends as much as you can. Repent while there is still time, for God’s mercy can reach even the most hardened sinner, but it enters only through the narrow gate of truth, justice and conversion.

 

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Further information:

• Apostolic Journey to Spain: Meeting with Organizations working for the Integration of Migrants (Dicastery for Communication - Vatican Media, 6/13/26)
• Apostolic Journey of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV to Spain (6 – 12 June 2026) – Meeting with organizations working for the integration of migrants (Holy See Press Office, 6/12/26)