TENERIFE, Spain (RNS) — Pope Leo XIV issued a stark warning to human traffickers, telling them to “repent” or face the judgment of God, during a speech to charity workers for the integration of migrants on the Spanish island of Tenerife on Friday (June 12).
“I wish to address a clear message to those who take advantage of people’s desperation, to those who organize death routes, traffic in human beings, withhold documents, exploit workers, threaten women, deceive families and turn the suffering of others into a business. Stop. Repent,” Leo said.
The pope said that God hears the suffering of trafficking victims and that the money gained by their exploitations “will bring neither peace, nor honor, nor a future.” He said traffickers “will have to appear before divine justice,” urging them to free and make amends to those they harmed.
“Repent while there is still time,” he said, “for God’s mercy can reach even the most hardened sinner, but it enters only through the narrow gate of truth, justice and conversion.”
Leo delivered his speech at Plaza del Cristo de La Laguna in Tenerife, on …