Dear Migrants. I kneel before your dignity

The sea, with its multiple meanings, serves as both the focal point and the backdrop in the speech that Pope Leo XIV delivered at the Port of Arguineguín (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) on June 11, 2026. It was an intense, heartfelt speech, structured around three fundamental themes: the denunciation and condemnation of mafia networks and human traffickers; an appeal to politicians and the leaders of both the countries from which migrants depart and the host countries, urging them to make decisions that guarantee the right to migrate safely but also the right to remain in conditions of peace and development; a strong affirmation of the dignity of every migrant, of the many “wounded lives arriving from the sea, stripped of almost everything, but never, ever of their dignity.”[1]