On the final day of a week-long visit to Spain focused on irregular immigration, Pope Leo XIV told migrants at a reception centre in Tenerife that “all of us are m!grants.”

The visit took place in the Canary Islands, which has become a major entry point for tens of thousands of people making the dangerous journey to Europe in search of better living conditions. The leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics used the trip to call for stronger support for migrants and tougher measures against human traffickers, as immigration remains a major political issue across Europe.

Speaking to migrants at Las Raices, a former military barracks now used as a reception centre that has previously faced criticism over overcrowding, the Pope said that in a sense, everyone is a migrant, describing all people as “pilgrims on our way to our heavenly homeland.”