EUROPE/SPAIN - El Hierro, prayer for migrants who died in the Atlantic on the eve of the Pope's visit

La Restinga (Fides News Agency) - A memorial service was recently held on the island of El Hierro, one of the main arrival points on the Atlantic migration route to the Canary Islands, for the migrants who drowned at sea and those who reached the shore after the crossing.
The commemoration took place in the port of La Restinga, a town on the southern tip of the island, which belongs to the Diocese of Nivariense (which includes the islands of Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera, and El Hierro). The so-called Canary route, which starts mainly from the west coast of Africa, exposes numerous precarious boats adrift in the Atlantic Ocean, which explains the frequent arrivals in the archipelago, particularly on the island of El Hierro.
According to the Canary Islands government, the island, with its population of just 11,700, received almost half of all the irregular boats that arrived in the archipelago last year. In 2024 alone, 23,994 migrants landed on the shores of the Canary Islands, more than half of the 46,843 who arrived on the islands that same year.

Under the motto "El Hierro raises Its gaze," the local Catholic community viewed this initiative as preparation for the upcoming papal visit. The Eucharist was celebrated at the parish of Nuestra Señora de los Reyes. Bishop Eloy Alberto Santiago of San Cristóbal de La Laguna (Tenerife) presided over the Mass and concelebrated with the Archbishop Emeritus of Caracas, Cardinal Baltazar Porras, and the island's priests. Also present was Darwin Rivas, parish priest of La Restinga and delegate of the Caritas in El Hierro. He is one of the initiators of the migrant reception program in the region and will report on the pastoral care provided to migrants in the archipelago at the meeting with the Holy Father on June 12 in the Plaza del Cristo de La Laguna.

The celebration was characterized by pastoral care in light of the migration situation in the archipelago. Bishop Eloy Alberto Santiago repeatedly emphasized the importance of not remaining silent about the suffering of those who risk the crossing to the Canary Islands and, in light of what he called a "humanitarian tragedy in which many people lose their lives," called for greater institutional awareness. After the Eucharist, the participants processed with torches in silent prayer to the port of La Restinga. There, the bishop offered a prayer for the island and the migrants who had reached its shores and concluded with a symbolic gesture of remembrance by throwing flowers into the sea to commemorate those who lost their lives during the crossing. (LGR) (Fides News Agency, 9/6/2026)

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