(OSV News) — At the final Mass of his visit to Spain, Pope Leo XIV called on Christians to look beyond the allure of commerce and profit and instead embrace the vocation of hospitality and the wisdom that comes from the encounter with the vulnerable and the suffering.
Celebrating the final Mass June 12 at the main commercial and cruise port in Tenerife, the pope said that Christians living in the Spanish islands, “at the center of migratory routes,” have an opportunity to learn and grow in faith from those who come seeking a better life.
“The greatest grace is to allow ourselves to be evangelized by those we assist and to recognize the mysterious wisdom of God written in their very flesh,” he said.
Hundreds gather outside bishop’s residence to greet pope
Before making his way to the port, the pope made a brief stop at the residence of Bishop Eloy Alberto Santiago of Tenerife. Making his way to the balcony, Pope Leo greeted hundreds of people gathered outside the bishop’s residence, hoping to catch a glimpse of the pontiff.
Thanking them for “this beautiful welcome,” the pope also expressed his gratitude for “the welcome you give to all migrants.”
“We all want to be recognized for the human dignity that God gave us when He created us,” he said. “We are all brothers and sisters: some Peruvians, some Colombians, some Venezuelans, some from Tenerife. We are all one single family.”
After departing the residence, the pope boarded his popemobile and greeted thousands lining the streets, waving and welcoming the pope.
Estimated 40,000 at Pope Leo’s final Mass in Spain
According to the Vatican press office, an estimated 40,000 people were present for the pope’s final Mass in Spain.
In his homily, the pope began by reflecting on the Church’s celebration of the solemnity of the Sacred Heart, which he said was a day “when the Heart of Jesus reveals itself to us as the heart of history.”
That heart, he noted, “shows us how not to get lost in a futile struggle: ‘God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.’ It is in giving of ourselves that we truly live. Otherwise, we spin in a void.”
Tenerife’s vocation to hospitality challenges both those who arrive to spend their vacations as well as those who live and work on the island to not “reduce everything to commerce and profit.”
“Those who enjoy more and live better each moment are those who have given up dipping here and there, always on the lookout for what they do not have,” he said. “They experience what it means to appreciate each person and each thing, learning familiarity with the simplest things and how to enjoy them.”
St. Matthew’s Gospel reminds pontiff of the “wealth of the poor”
Reflecting on the day’s Gospel reading from St. Matthew, the pope said it served as a reminder of the “wealth of the poor,” which is a paradox “that points directly to the life of Jesus, to his truth, to the path upon which he continues to ask us to follow him.”
“Growing up in precarious circumstances, learning to survive in the most adverse conditions, trusting in God with the assurance that no one else takes them seriously, and helping one another in the darkest moments, the poor have learned many things that they keep hidden in their hearts,” the pope said, citing his apostolic exhortation on love for the poor, “Dilexi Te” (“I have loved you”).
Pope Leo concluded his homily by thanking the people of Tenerife for “making this island a place of encounter with the heart of Christ in the friendly and hospitable faces of people and fraternal communities.”
“This is the heart of the Gospel, the heart of Christ,” he said. “Whoever immerses themselves in it no longer lives for themselves. Open this sea of love to everyone! This is my wish and my prayer for you and for all those who will come to know you.”
Junno Arocho Esteves is an international correspondent for OSV News. Follow him on X @jae_journalist.
