More than 35,000 people took part this Friday in the Mass presided over by Pope Leo XIV at the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the final public event of his apostolic journey to Spain.
The celebration, held on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, brought to a close a week of intense pastoral activity in Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands, marked by constant references to evangelization, Christian fraternity and the phenomenon of migration.
The Eucharist began almost an hour late and unfolded under intense heat that accompanied the thousands of faithful who had gathered from early morning in the port area.
A celebration marked by Canarian symbolism
Three cayucos placed behind the sanctuary were intended to evoke the migratory reality that had been present throughout the Pontiff’s stay in the archipelago and to serve as a reminder of the thousands of people who arrive in the Canary Islands each year via the Atlantic route.
The vestments worn by Leo XIV also played a prominent role. The chasuble and mitre, specially made for this celebration in workshops in Bergamo, incorporated references to the sea and the volcanic Canarian landscape. These pieces will remain in the diocese as a memento of a visit considered historic for the islands.
The Canarian Church, protagonist of the liturgy
The celebration featured wide participation from the local Church, with readers from various parishes.
The intentions of the Prayer of the Faithful were led by representatives of different ecclesial and social realities. Among them were immigrants from the Philippines, Guinea-Bissau and Venezuela, as well as pastoral leaders, educators and members of consecrated life.
Around 300 extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, both lay and religious, were mobilized to distribute Communion to those present. The venue also featured fourteen eucharistic tents equipped with tabernacles to facilitate the participation of the thousands of faithful in attendance.
“No human being is an island”
In his homily, Leo XIV presented the Heart of Jesus as “the heart of history” and offered a reflection on the human vocation to encounter and communion.
The full homily follows:
Dear brothers and sisters:
It is a grace to be together on the day when the Heart of Jesus is offered to us to contemplate as the heart of history. I am happy to celebrate the Eucharist with you, giving thanks for the faith and charity of which I have received so many testimonies during this apostolic journey—witnesses that also make this archipelago, so well known for its beauty and its welcome, a place where the Risen Lord goes before us and reveals himself. Before us the sea evokes the infinite, and so does the sky; but above all it is the desire that unites the heart of God to so many human hearts that is infinite—joys and hopes, sorrows and anguish that find an echo in the heart of the Church (cf. Gaudium et spes, 1). No human being is an island; the geographical location of this diocese and the pastoral challenges it faces bear witness that we are born for encounter and that no obstacle, distance, danger or threat can prevent anyone from making their journey. Whether remaining in the same place for an entire lifetime or choosing or being compelled to leave, no one ever stays still. This is the secret of the heart: the intimate call to exodus and to encounter.
Yet the Heart of Jesus reveals to us how not to lose ourselves in a sterile dynamism: “God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him” (1 Jn 4:9). There is life when life is given. Otherwise, one turns in emptiness. Indeed, “as the Council reminds us, the human person is called to communion with God and ‘cannot find fulfilment except through the sincere gift of self’; his deepest vocation is to enter into the Trinitarian movement of love received and shared” (Magnifica humanitas, 48). Pope Francis observed: “Many people experience a profound imbalance that drives them to do things at full speed in order to feel occupied, in a constant hurry that in turn leads them to trample everything around them. This has an impact on the way the environment is treated” (Laudato si’, 225). These words also challenge the tourist vocation of Tenerife, both for the heart of those who decide to spend a holiday here and for those who live and work on the island, in contact with visitors from so many countries of the world. What does the human heart seek? How can its thirst be answered in a way that is not deceptive? How important it is, especially for those guided by the Gospel, not to reduce everything to commerce and profit. “Those who enjoy more and live better each moment are those who stop pecking here and there, always seeking what they do not have, and experience the value of appreciating each person and each thing; they learn to make contact and know how to delight in the simplest things. Thus they are able to reduce unsatisfied needs and lessen weariness and obsession” (ibid., 223). Interpret your vocation to hospitality in this way, dear brothers and sisters.
Today’s Gospel seems to radicalize this challenge and reminds us of the riches of the poor: a paradox that refers directly to the life of Jesus, to his truth, to the path on which he continues to ask us to follow him. In the passage we have heard, he blesses the Father for this: it is to the little ones—who in this context means the least, those whom no one considers capable of thought or speech—that God has revealed himself. He has enriched them with what remains hidden from those surrounded by admiration and success. With the Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi te I wished to draw attention to that privileged place of the poor in divine Revelation and in the mission of the Church.
It is a mystery that resonates in a very particular way in these islands, at the centre of migratory routes that make them a place of first welcome for brothers and sisters whose journey is generally exposed to untold dangers and violence. Faced with those who speculate on despair, as Christians we can only offer a reflection of the Lord who says: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28). The greatest grace is to allow ourselves to be evangelized by those we help, to recognize the mysterious wisdom of God written in their very flesh: “Having grown up in extreme precariousness, learning to survive in the most difficult conditions, trusting in God with the certainty that no one else takes them seriously, helping one another in the darkest moments, the poor have learned many things that they keep in the mystery of their hearts. Those of us who have not experienced similar situations, of a life lived on the edge, surely have much to receive from that source of wisdom which is the experience of the poor. Only by comparing our complaints with their sufferings and privations is it possible to receive a reproach that invites us to simplify our lives” (Dilexi te, 102). The Lord, who rebukes and corrects those he loves (cf. Rev 3:19), desires to make our life simple and joyful.
Dear brothers and sisters, thank you for what you are and for what you do, making this island a place where the heart of Christ can be found in the friendly and hospitable face of people and fraternal communities. “We have known the love God has for us and have believed in him” (1 Jn 4:16): may this confession of faith, handed down by the First Letter of the Apostle John, always shine in you and motivate you to prayer and action. Pay attention to adolescents and young people, to the rich and the poor, to residents and guests: all of them need to be known with a gaze that looks beyond appearances and recognizes the depth of their restless hearts, which so often are already oriented, perhaps unconsciously, toward the Kingdom of God and his justice. May it be breathed among you that “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him” (1 Jn 4:16). This is the heart of the Gospel, the heart of Christ. Whoever immerses himself in him no longer lives for himself. Open this sea of love to all! It is my desire and my prayer for you and for all those you meet on your way.
The end of an intense week
The Mass in Santa Cruz de Tenerife officially closed Pope Leo XIV’s first apostolic journey to Spain. Over seven days, the Pontiff visited Madrid, Barcelona, Gran Canaria and Tenerife, holding meetings with young people, priests, authorities, migrants and representatives of various ecclesial and social realities.
After the celebration, the Pope begins his return to Rome, concluding a visit that placed the Canary Islands at the centre of his farewell and that leaves as an image the multitude gathered before the Atlantic to celebrate the Eucharist alongside the Successor of Peter.