The pontiff cast a floral wreath into the sea in tribute to the thousands who have died trying to reach the Atlantic archipelago, on day six of a trip to Spain that has repeatedly highlighted the plight of migrants.
Leo visited the formerly notorious port of Arguineguin on Gran Canaria island, meeting migrants and those who help them before blessing a cross made from the wood of migrant boats.
“Even today, 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,” Leo told a ceremony at Arguineguin.
Nearly 1,200 people died or went missing on the route from Africa to the Canary Islands last year, according to the International Organisation for Migration, making it one of the world’s deadliest migration routes.
Europe, where governments have toughened their policies in recent years under pressure from the far right, “cannot claim to uphold human dignity while growing accustomed to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic becoming unmarked graves”, added Leo.