Pope Leo XIV landed in Spain's Canary Islands, an epicenter for incoming migrants seeking entry into Europe, on Thursday just days after criticizing the country's immigration policies in a speech to Spain's Parliament.

Pope Leo will meet with 1,000 migrants on Friday to cap off his apostolic journey to Spain, the European country with the sixth largest Christian population on the continent.

Following his parliamentary speech Monday in which he took aim at Europe's immigration polices, Pope Leo landed Thursday on the island chain's Gran Canaria, according to Reuters.

On Thursday he met with migrants and leaders of international organizations that assist migrants, holding a moment of silence for migrants who died trying to reach Gran Canaria at Port of Arguineguin, a dock which made headlines in 2020 after over 1,000 migrants ended up stranded there during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Relief organizations came to call the Port of Arguineguin the "Dock of Shame" after the migrant crisis, a theme Pope Leo seemed to pick up on while speaking at the port Thursday.

"Dear migrants, before saying anything else to you, I want to bow before your dignity," the pope said. "You are not just numbers or files. You are people who have left behind families and homes. You have dreams that no one has the right to despise," Pope Leo said at the dock.

"We cannot grow accustomed to counting the dead," he added.

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He also called for "legal and safe pathways" for immigration worldwide.

Located less than 100 miles off the coast of West Africa, Gran Canaria has been the destination for thousands of Africans, many of whom have lost their lives attempting to traverse the volatile waters in small boats.

Over 3,000 people died trying to make the journey in 2025 alone, according to the non-governmental organization (NGO) Caminando Fronteras.

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The Canaries have seen a massive uptick in migrant entries since 2015. In 2024 the archipelago broke records with 46,843 irregular migrants compared to under 1,000 in 2015, according to Reuters.

Speaking to media at Pope Leo's event, a boat captain who assists charities and NGOs in ferrying migrants said he had personally helped save over 20,000 migrants in the last 18 years, Reuters reported.

"It's a number that makes me sick and that you cannot forget," the captain, Tito Villarmea, told Reuters. "I wish we ​didn't have to save anyone," he continued.

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Under Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Spain's socialist government has liberalized the country's policies on migration, approving a plan in April to grant 500,000 undocumented migrants legal status.

Spain's conservative lawmakers, meanwhile, fired back after Pope Leo's Monday speech to Parliament.

During his address to lawmakers, Pope Leo called migration a "tragic drama" and said discrimination against people based on "national, ethnic, religious or linguistic origin, or because of their economic or social status" was a violation of the "universal principle of the equal dignity of all human beings."

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But Santiago Abascal, who heads Spain's conservative Vox party, countered making a point that Vatican City has policies against illegal immigration as well.

"I like the Vatican state's migration policy. If someone enters illegally or with violence, they are fined, imprisoned and banned from entry. I would like a similar migration policy for Spain," Abascal told reporters Monday.

A man in his 40s was hospitalized with serious injuries after a brutal knife attack in Northern Ireland, as police arrested a Sudanese migrant on suspicion of attempted murder. 

The attack happened shortly after 10:30 p.m. Monday in north Belfast, according to the Police Service of Northern Ireland. The victim suffered serious injuries to his face, neck, back and eyes, while police said they recovered what they believe was a kitchen knife at the scene.

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Video circulating online appeared to show members of the public confronting the attacker, including one person wielding a hurling stick. PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson praised the bystanders as "heroic," saying their intervention helped save the victim’s life, according to the BBC.

Police initially said the suspect was Somali but later corrected that he is believed to be Sudanese, describing the change as part of a "fast-time investigation." Henderson said police understand the suspect came into Northern Ireland from Dublin, Ireland and had been granted leave to remain, though he said the Home Office would provide further clarity on his status.

On Monday evening, protesters burned down a bus as tensions rose in Belfast following the gruesome stabbing, despite earlier calls from authorities for calm.

"At this stage, we have no information to suggest that this was a terrorist-related incident," Henderson said, while stressing that the investigation remains in its early stages. "However, I must stress, we are still at the early stages of our investigation," he said, according to The Sun.

Alan Mendoza, executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, told Fox News Digital that the attack exposed what he described as failures in Britain’s immigration system.

"Britain’s broken border and migration system has been put into stark relief once more with this tragic — and entirely avoidable — case," Mendoza said. "This man should never ever have been in the U.K., let alone been granted ‘leave to remain.’ The Irish border is the soft underbelly for a process the British public has long since lost confidence in, as well as in those administering it politically. Nothing short of a revolution in who we allow into the U.K. and how will satisfy a people fed up with false promises about immigration change."

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The swift response from Prime Minister Keir Starmer marked a notable contrast with the case of Henry Nowak, an 18-year-old who was stabbed and then handcuffed by police after his attacker accused him of making racist remarks. Starmer faced criticism from some conservatives over his response to that case.

Starmer quickly posted on X that the attack was "sickening," adding: "I have absolutely no tolerance for abhorrent scenes of violence like this on our streets." He said his thoughts were with the victim and thanked first responders, including members of the public who intervened.

The attack prompted political reaction across the U.K. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called on authorities to reveal the suspect’s identity and immigration status.

"What happened in Belfast last night is horrific. The authorities must reveal the identity and status of the attacker immediately. The public are entitled to the truth," Farage wrote on X.

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Robert Jenrick also wrote on X: "We’ve woken up to truly barbaric footage on a street in Belfast. Of a kind you’d think you’d never see in this country. For years now I’ve urged the police to spell out the basic, sober facts, as they have them, when there are horrors like this."

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said people would ask whether there had been "failings around our borders," according to GB News.

Northern Ireland’s main political parties issued a joint statement condemning the violence and urging the public not to share graphic footage of the attack.

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"There is no place in our society for this kind of brutality. Our immediate thoughts are with the victim and his family, and we hope he makes a full and complete recovery," the parties said, according to GB News.

Police said they had declared a critical incident and would increase their presence across Northern Ireland amid calls for protests. Officials urged calm and asked the public to allow the investigation to proceed.