Mazuelos urges against using immigration to sow fear or division

The Canary Islands bishop calls for seeing each migrant as “a brother, not a problem”

The Bishop of the Canary Islands, José Mazuelos, did not let the migration issue pass unnoticed during his homily at the Mass held in honor of the Virgin of the Pine on its feast day. He appealed for an end to the instrumentalisation of immigration to “sow fear or divide” and urged people to view every migrant as “not a problem, but a brother.”

“They are thousands of brothers who arrive seeking bread, work, dignity and a better future for their children,” he said, adding that they are “escaping persecution, poverty and violence.”

Mazuelos stressed that the suffering of those forced to leave their homelands because of war and the devastation of natural resources by “unscrupulous multinationals” cannot be ignored. He called for “setting aside ideologies” and “raising our voices” in Europe to develop a service‑oriented policy “in search of the common good,” rooted in “respect for the dignity of all human beings.”

The bishop lamented the more than 10,000 lives lost in the Atlantic and “just as many in the sands of the Hajar” (Sahara), urging governments to “listen to the voice of the voiceless” and to work so that the ocean “stops being a cemetery.” He was unequivocal:

“Immigration cannot be used to chase votes, to make politics easy, or to foster polarization,” because the migration issue “calls on all of us to abandon partisan benefits and seek consensus.”

Consequently, Mazuelos declared that “we cannot allow immigration to be used to sow fear or divide society.” He reaffirmed the need for fraternity, justice and peace without succumbing to “ideological manipulation.” He also warned that this is not merely a “Canary problem,” but a global challenge that requires shared solutions. The bishop emphasized that the Canary Islands “cannot and should not bear this reality alone,” rejecting short‑term “emergency patches” in favour of long‑term solutions.

Among the measures he proposes are co‑existence programmes aimed at fostering integration and social cohesion. He concluded by asking the Virgin of the Pine to “grant us new eyes” that enable us to see each migrant “not as a problem, but as a‑brother,” and to transform the Canary Islands from “just a border” into “a bridge of encounter, justice and fraternity.”