Pope Leo to visit Europe's migration hot spots hoping to ease political tensions

BARCELONA, Spain — Pope Leo XIV is delving into the hotly contested issue of migration by visiting two flashpoints — Spain’s Canary Islands in the Atlantic next week, and Italy’s Lampedusa island in the Mediterranean in early July.

These rocky, remote outposts of Europe have struggled with the arrival of tens of thousands of mostly African migrants through some of the world's deadliest migration routes .

Even as numbers decreased this year, especially in the Canaries, the issue continues to roil politics in these historically Catholic countries.

Many Catholics and migrants hope the upcoming papal trips will refocus attention on solidarity and support — and away from divisive political debate that is splitting the right in addition to pitting it against the left. “Stuck in the middle are the migrants,” said the Most Rev. José Mazuelos, the bishop of Canarias, whose diocese includes several of the islands. “So the church says, ‘Let’s give them a face, because we’re talking about people, not numbers.’" Among them is Eslim Jallow, 27.

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