The Canarian President Angel Victor Torresdid not miss the opportunity. The leader of the autonomous Executive yesterday took advantage of his meeting with Pope Francis in the Vatican to invite the pontiff to the Islands. “If you can, it would be an honour,” said the president during the greeting after the general audience in which the delegation from Club Deportivo Tenerife also participated on the occasion of its centenary. AIn addition to the invitation, greetings and gifts for the Pope, the meeting had in the background two very present realities in the Islands: migration and the recovery of La Palma.
According to Torres, it was a “very emotional” moment, which he will remember the “smile and empathy” of the head of state of Vatican City, whom he defined as a “charismatic person” who defends the most vulnerable. «He had La Palma very present and also the migratory phenomena. Both events are a reality in the Canary Islands, ”clarified the president.
The truth is that since his first trip as Pope to Lampedusa in July 2013, the pontiff has always been committed to immigrants who risk their lives at sea. Before the message of welcome that Pope Francis always sends, Torres stressed that immigration is “a humanitarian drama with which politics does not have to be made” and insisted on the importance of “collaborating and helping to be supportive and give space to the side more humane.
However, he added, that also “we must demand from the rest of Spain and the European Union, the obligatory solidarity so that we welcome those fleeing from hunger, from desertification and who seek a better future».
“Is it so cold on the Islands?” jokes the head of the Catholic Church upon receiving a gift scarf
«We canaries already did it when in the hard years of the dictatorship we emigrated to Latin America looking for well-being and also freedom. The Pope knows what we are talking about, because he comes from a country, Argentina, with so many emigrants, also from the Canary Islands, “said Torres.
The visit to Rome of the Canarian leader takes place just one day after the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, affirmed on Tuesday in La Palma that there is a decrease in the arrival of irregular migrants in Spain thanks to the collaboration with countries like Morocco. A statement that conflicts with the latest figures offered by the Ministry of the Interior, where a drop in the national average of the migratory flow of 1.1% is confirmed compared to an increase of 25.8% in the Canary Islands -10,347 irregular migrants- until August 15 compared to the same period in 2021.
In the meeting with the pontiff also there was time to talk about La Palma. The president of the Canarian Executive highlighted the solidarity that Pope Francis showed him and assured that he has the Island “very present”. In this sense, he indicated that the pontiff “has been, is and will continue to be at the side” of the clappers, to whom, in the words of Torres, he sent his message of solidarity after “a wound was opened in September 2021.” » in La Palma.
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The Canarian president described CD Tenerife having organized this hearing as a “success” because “it places Canary Islands in the map”. The delegation took advantage of the visit to give the pontiff a pennant, a team shirt and scarf, and some Canarian pintaderas that, Torres explained, “reflect the pre-Hispanic Canarian reality and the aboriginal reality of our land.”
Upon receiving the scarf, the Pope could not help but joke and ask if in the Canary Islands “it is cold enough to wear that type of clothing.”
