EWTN News reports on the first day of the visit by the usurper in the Vatican, Robert Prevost (“Leo XIV”), to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (June 11, 2026). The former missionary threw a wreath into the sea at the “dock of shame” (Arguineguín) in memory of migrants who died during ocean crossings, prayed before a cross made from the wreckage of migrant boats, and at a Mass for nearly 40,000 people at the Gran Canaria Stadium, he invited prayers for those who “have lost their lives at sea.” The entire event was saturated with naturalistic sentimentality, a focus on “crucified brothers and sisters” stripped of any call to conversion, and a reduction of the Faith to mere philanthropy — all hallmarks of the post-conciliar religion of man.
A Wreath Instead of a Tabernacle: The Religion of Humanitarian Sentiment
The image is stark and symbolically laden: the occupant of the Vatican throne stands at the Arguineguín dock — cynically dubbed the “dock of shame” precisely because Western governments abandoned thousands of illegal migrants there — and throws a wreath of flowers into the water. He prays before a cross constructed from the planks of wrecked migrant vessels. He blesses it. The faithful weep. Volunteers declare themselves moved. And not a single word is spoken about the supernatural destiny of souls, the necessity of baptism, the obligation of Catholic states to uphold the social reign of Christ the King, or the moral duty to distinguish between lawful charity and the reckless endangerment of both migrant lives and the common good of Christian nations.
This is the religion of the conciliar sect in its purest distillation. The cross of Christ — the instrument of propitiatory sacrifice, the sign of victory over sin and death, the indispensable means of salvation — is reduced to a piece of driftwood assembled from the wreckage of human misery. It is no longer the Crux Christi salus mundi (the Cross of Christ, the salvation of the world); it is a monument to the religion of humanitarianism, the very “philanthropy” that the true Catholic Faith explicitly distinguishes from supernatural charity.
When the “pope” quotes St. Augustine — “No one is able to cross the sea of this world unless borne by the cross of Christ” — he strips the words of their dogmatic content. For St. Augustine, the “cross of Christ” is not a metaphor for the sufferings of migration; it is the literal Cross of Calvary, the sacramental system flowing from it, and the necessity of incorporation into Christ through baptism and membership in His one true Church. To invoke this Father of the Church while remaining utterly silent on the necessity of conversion to Catholicism for the salvation of souls is not merely an omission — it is a perversion of the patristic witness in service of the modernist agenda.
“Not Numbers or Files”: The Language of the New Advent
The volunteer Javier recounts with admiration: “The pope gave a strong and moving speech. What he said to the migrants — that they are not numbers or files — really impressed me.” One must ask: what did the “pope” actually say? That migrants are human beings? This is a truism so banal that it would only be “impressive” to someone who had never encountered the Catholic Faith’s teaching on the dignity of the human person — a dignity rooted not in sentiment but in the imago Dei and ordered toward eternal beatitude.
The conciliar sect’s rhetoric consistently operates on this level: affirming natural truths that even pagans acknowledge, while remaining systematically silent on supernatural truths that alone constitute the Church’s reason for existence. Pius XI, in Quas Primas, taught with unmistakable clarity that Christ’s reign “extends not only to Catholic nations… but His reign encompasses also all non-Christians, so that most truly the entire human race is subject to the authority of Jesus Christ.” The duty of the Church toward migrants is not merely to acknowledge their humanity — it is to lead them to the baptismal font, to the sacraments, to the profession of the Catholic Faith. Anything less is a betrayal of the mandate docete omnes gentes (teach all nations).
The Canary Islands Cathedral: Where Monarchs Built for Christ, His Usurper Builds for Consensus
The article notes that the Cathedral of Santa Ana’s construction “began around the year 1500 at the initiative of the Catholic monarchs, Isabel I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon.” The historical irony is devastating. Those monarchs — whatever their personal failings — understood that the Church is a perfect society, endowed by her Divine Founder with proper and perpetual rights independent of civil power (cf. Syllabus of Errors, props. 19-20). They built cathedrals as fortresses of the Faith, as visible proclamations of Christ the King’s dominion over the territories Spain was evangelizing.
Now, in that same cathedral, the occupant of the Vatican chair invites the faithful to “live in unity,” to be “building the Church together, founded on Christ, the ‘cornerstone,’ building up the good, harmonizing our differences, and working united for the good of all.” This is the language of the United Nations, not of the Mystical Body of Christ. The “Church” described here is not the hierarchical society instituted by Our Lord but a democratic assembly of well-meaning individuals “harmonizing differences” — a description that would be equally appropriate for a Masonic lodge or a secular NGO.
The bishop of the Canary Islands, José Mazuelos Pérez, laments “growing secularization” and “the transmission of the faith in families” becoming “increasingly fragile or marginal.” But he proposes no remedy rooted in the unchanging Magisterium. There is no call to preach against the errors condemned in the Syllabus of Errors, no denunciation of the modernist propositions anathematized in Lamentabili Sane Exitu, no summons to the integral Catholic formation that alone can resist secularization. The diagnosis is conciliar; the prescription will be conciliar; the result will be more of the same apostasy.
The Stadium Mass: Forty Thousand Souls, Zero Calls to Conversion
At the Gran Canaria Stadium, before nearly 40,000 people, “Leo XIV” celebrated what the article calls “his first large public Mass.” One must be precise: this was a celebration of the Novus Ordo Missae, the Pauline rite that even the most conservative pre-conciliar theologians recognized as problematic in its formulation and susceptible to a Protestant interpretation. The “Mass” was held in a stadium — not a consecrated church, not a sacred space set apart for the Unbloody Sacrifice, but a sports arena. The symbolism is unintentionally eloquent: the propitiatory sacrifice of Calvary has been replaced by a spectacle.
The “pope” invited the crowd to pray for those who “have lost their lives at sea.” This is presented as the summit of Catholic concern. But where is the prayer for the souls of the dead — that if they died in the state of grace, they may attain eternal glory, and if they died without baptism or in mortal sin, that God in His mercy may apply to them the fruits of the Passion through means known only to Him? Where is the prayer for the conversion of the living — that migrants may not merely “survive” but come to know Christ and His Church? The “charity” proclaimed here is explicitly naturalistic: “helping each person not only to survive but also to recover trust and resume their path, to grow and fully flourish in their uniqueness, for the good of all.”
This last phrase — “for the good of all” — is the telltale signature of the post-conciliar religion. The supernatural common good, which consists in the knowledge and love of God and the salvation of souls, has been replaced by the naturalistic common good of social harmony. The “vocation to love” described by the “pope” is “not based on calculation, nor on mere sentiment, nor reducible to simple philanthropy” — yet every concrete example he gives is precisely philanthropy, sentiment, and naturalistic humanism.
The Rosary, the Bouquet, and the Genealogy: Catholic Forms Emptied of Content
The article records charming details: three girls in traditional Canarian costumes presenting flowers, the “pope” giving them “a blessed rosary with a smile,” a genealogical study presented by the local Cabildo hoping to find Canarian roots in his lineage. These are the vestiges of Catholic culture — the rosary, the traditional dress, the connection to ancestral heritage — emptied of their supernatural substance and reduced to folkloric decoration.
The rosary is a meditative prayer on the mysteries of the Faith, ordered toward the contemplation of Christ’s life, Passion, and glory. When it is given as a souvenir alongside smiles and photo opportunities, it becomes a sacramental without sacramentality — a religious object stripped of its power to dispose the soul toward grace. Pius X, in Lamentabili, condemned the proposition that “the dogmas of faith should be understood according to their practical function, i.e., as binding in action, rather than as principles of belief” (prop. 26). The entire conciliar project operates on this principle: Catholic practices are retained for their “practical function” of fostering community sentiment, while the dogmas that give them meaning are systematically obscured.
The Suffering of Yolanda: Offered to Whom?
Perhaps the most spiritually troubling detail in the entire article is the story of Yolanda, a volunteer battling metastatic cancer who “offered all her suffering” for the “pope.” The theology of suffering offered to a manifest heretic and usurper is not merely futile — it is spiritually dangerous. The Catholic doctrine of merit requires that the person for whom one offers suffering be in the state of sanctifying grace and in communion with the Church. To offer one’s sufferings for a man who occupies the See of Peter illegitimately, who propagates errors condemned by the authentic Magisterium, and who leads souls away from the true Faith is to direct supernatural merit toward an end that cannot bear supernatural fruit.
The true offering of suffering is made for the Church — the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church that predates and will outlast the current occupation of the Vatican — and for the souls in purgatory, and for the conversion of sinners to the Catholic Faith. Yolanda’s suffering, if united to the Cross of Christ and offered through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the true saints of God, could bear immense supernatural fruit — but not through the mediation of the conciar structures.
The Young and the Faith: Marriage Without the Supernatural
The young woman Talía, 25, is moved by the “pope’s” invitation “not to be afraid to form a family and make a lifelong commitment.” She adds: “Today many people are scared to get married. It’s true that birth rates in Spain have risen, but they should rise a little more.” The entire framework is naturalistic. Marriage is presented as a “family” to be “formed,” a “commitment” to be made — not as a sacrament conferring grace for a supernatural end, not as the divinely instituted means of begetting and educating children for heaven, not as a vocation requiring the state of sanctifying grace.
Carlos, 20, says his goal is “to try to attain the grace of God.” But in the conciliar framework, “grace” has been immanentized — it is no longer the supernatural gift by which we are made partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet 1:4), but a vague spiritual uplift available through community participation and good intentions. The sacramental system — confession, the Most Holy Eucharist, the sacramental graces necessary for perseverance in the state of grace — is entirely absent from the discussion.
The Silence That Condemns
What is absent from this entire article is more damning than what is present. There is:
- No mention of baptism as the necessary means of incorporation into Christ and His Church.
- No mention of the obligation of Catholic states to profess the Faith publicly and uphold the social reign of Christ the King (cf. Quas Primas).
- No mention of the necessity of conversion to the Catholic Faith for the salvation of non-Catholic migrants.
- No mention of the sacraments as the ordinary means of grace.
- No mention of the state of grace, mortal sin, or the necessity of confession.
- No mention of the supernatural common good as the end of all social order.
- No mention of the errors of modernism that have produced the very secularization the bishop laments.
- No mention of the illegitimacy of the conciar “pontificate” and the vacancy of the Apostolic See.
Pius IX, in the Syllabus of Errors, condemned the proposition that “in the present day it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion should be held as only religion of the State, to the exclusion of all other forms of worship” (prop. 77). The entire Canary Islands visit — with its wreaths for migrants, its humanitarian rhetoric, its stadium Mass, its genealogical curiosity — is the practical realization of every error condemned by the authentic Magisterium.
The “dock of shame” is not Arguineguín. The “dock of shame” is the Vatican itself, where the Chair of Peter has been occupied by men who preach philanthropy instead of the Gospel, who honor the dead with flowers instead of offering them the propitiatory sacrifice of the Mass, and who build “unity” on the foundation of religious indifferentism rather than on the Cornerstone of the Catholic Faith.
Source:
Pope tells Catholics to pray for those who ‘have lost their lives at sea’ in Canary Islands visit (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 11.06.2026