By Joshua McElwee
VATICAN CITY, May 6 (Reuters) – Pope Leo will visit two of the Canary Islands, major entry points off Africa’s western coast for desperate migrants braving dangerous Atlantic waters to get to Europe, as part of a tour of Spain next month, the Vatican announced on Wednesday.
Leo, who has drawn the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump after criticizing the Iran war and the Trump administration’s anti-immigration policies, is visiting Spain from June 6-12 in his first trip to a European Union nation outside Italy.
The first U.S. pope will spend the last two days of the trip on the islands of Tenerife and Gran Canaria, where he will meet with migrants and organizations dedicated to helping them.
More than 3,000 people died in 2025 trying to reach the Canary Islands, often in makeshift dinghies, according to NGO Caminando Fronteras.
The pope comes to Spain as Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government has opened a one-year mass amnesty program, allowing an estimated 500,000 immigrants to apply for legal status.
Leo will also visit Madrid, where he will meet King Felipe and Queen Letizia and give addresses at the Royal Palace and the Spanish Parliament.
The pope will likewise travel to Montserrat in Catalonia, where he will visit with the historic Benedictine community, and Barcelona, where he will inaugurate the newest tower of the Sagrada Familia, the famed modernist basilica that has become the world’s tallest church.
Other planned events for the tour include a prayer vigil with young people, an outdoor Mass in Madrid’s landmark Plaza de Cibeles, and a meeting with the nation’s Catholic bishops.
The pope, who on Friday marks his first year leading the 1.4-billion-member Church, has grown more outspoken on the world stage in recent weeks.
During a four-nation Africa tour last month he forcefully decried the direction of global leadership and said the world was “being ravaged by a handful of tyrants”.
Spain is Leo’s fourth tour outside Italy after also visiting Monaco in March, and Lebanon and Turkey last year.
The pope will make another visit on July 4 to a port of call for migrants entering Europe, travelling to Lampedusa, an Italian island south of Sicily.
The choice to visit the island on the day the U.S. celebrates the 250th anniversary of its independence has drawn wide attention.
(Reporting by Joshua McElwee, Editing by William Maclean)
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