by our correspondent
Gianluca Biccini
«I leave for Rome moved by the great affection that surrounded me and comforted by the testimonies of faith and love for the Church, expressions of the great Catholic heart of Spain». Greeting at the end of the mass the forty thousand faithful present in the Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Leo XIV thus took leave yesterday afternoon, Friday 12 June, from the Iberian country which hosted him for seven days.
An apostolic journey that will remain in the memory above all for its conclusion with an unprecedented unscheduled event due to a technical failure of the plane that was supposed to take the Pope back to Fiumicino, forcing him to change carrier, the one made available by King Felipe VI, and to give up the usual press conference with the journalists who accompanied him on the stops in Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands.
After the private lunch in the house of the bishop of San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Monsignor Eloy Alberto Santiago Santiago, the Pontiff traveled a dozen kilometers by car and then got into the popemobile to greet the river of people crowded along the route. They also arrived from other islands of the Atlantic archipelago to intercept his passage, immortalize the event and pay him affection.
When Leo XIV arrived in the large esplanade overlooking the sea, while the notes of «Raise your gaze», the official anthem of the visit, a mosaic of colored caps accompanied the waving of flags, fans and banners carried by the participants in the rite. It is the multifaceted face of the People of God – young people, adolescents, children together with their families – who expressed all their gratitude for the first visit of the Successor of Peter to these islands on the geographical border of the Old Continent and, at the same time, a new horizon for thousands of migrants in search of better life opportunities.
The festive atmosphere, however, left room for contemplation, when the Pontiff put on his vestments in the sacristy and went up to the altar for mass. Led by the songs of the choir accompanied by the orchestra, the assembly then gathered in prayer and listening. In the area of the main commercial and cruise port of Tenerife, Leo Dilexi you on love towards the poor (4 October 2025), which arose directly from the encyclical of his predecessor Francis Dilexit nos on the divine and human love of the Heart of Christ (24 October 2024).
On the World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests, established by Saint John Paul II in 1995, the readings were taken from Deuteronomy (7, 6-11) “The Lord has bound himself to you and has chosen you”, from Psalm 102, from the first letter of John (4, 7-16) “God has loved us” and from the Gospel of Matthew (11, 25-30) “I am gentle and humble of heart”.
Intentions have been raised to the prayers of the faithful for the rulers of the peoples, so that, by exercising justice and solidarity, they promote peace and a dignified life for all; for those who experience the drama of migration, social exclusion, illness and poverty, so that they may find consolation in Christ and support in their brothers; and above all for migrants who died at sea.
«Thirty years ago, the first boat with migrants on board arrived in Fuerteventura, and it is a reality that has evolved over time. When we say we are part of the Atlantic route, it is because we are precisely on that path”, explains a volunteer from the Human Mobility and Fraternal Cooperation team of Caritas of the diocese to whose territory Tenerife and Fuerteventura belong, but also La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro, the small island whose port of La Restinga holds the sad record of being the main point of disembarkation for migrants. And to this man committed to helping others as well as to all those present at the rite, but also to anyone who listened to his words, the Pope reminded how “the greatest grace” is to allow oneself to be evangelized by those who are helped, recognizing “the mysterious wisdom of God written in their very flesh”.
