“There was an expression of 'Gran Canarian identity', because the island has shown the world its values and unity,” the president of the Island Council emphasized.
Antonio Morales reminded the Pope of the figure of the Gran Canarian priest Antonio Vicente González, who is in the process of beatification.
The Island Council also highlights the example of institutional collaboration and civic responsibility that Gran Canaria has offered during the Pope's visit.
Before leaving Gran Canaria, Pope Leo XIV conveyed to the President of the Island Council, Antonio Morales, his satisfaction and gratitude for the welcome and the experience he had on the island, an essential and especially symbolic stop on his visit to Spain, which included stops at the port of Arguineguín, the Cathedral and Plaza de Santa Ana, and the Gran Canaria Stadium, where the mass was celebrated.
“It has been a historic event, and all expectations have been met,” added the president of the Gran Canaria Island Council. “Furthermore, it has been a moment of social cohesion and an expression of Gran Canarian identity, because I believe the island as a whole saw this occasion as an opportunity to show the world our values and unity as a place of encounter, integration, peace, and understanding,” noted Antonio Morales.
“We recalled with him the tragedy of Arguineguín and listened to and shared his denunciation of the inhumane treatment of immigrants and his demand for respect for human life and dignity,” said the president of the Island Council, who the day before, after the mass in the State of Gran Canaria, had the opportunity to briefly explain to the pontiff the role that the Island Institution plays as the Government of the island.
Likewise, Antonio Morales emphasized that citizen collaboration and civic responsibility, along with institutional cooperation, allowed the entire operation to function flawlessly and traffic to flow smoothly during an event of this magnitude. This, he stressed, demonstrated once again the island's capacity to handle large-scale events with complete confidence.
The mobility plan coordinated by the Single Transport Authority of Gran Canaria contributed significantly to everything going according to plan and without significant complications in traffic and public and private collective transport, which took precedence over the use of private cars to reach the different stops of the Pope's visit to Gran Canaria.
Both the shuttle buses and the special Global services and the park-and-ride facilities worked like clockwork within the established mechanism, allowing tens of thousands of people to closely follow the Pope's actions and ensuring that the Siete Palmas area, where nearly 30.000 people gathered between the Gran Canaria Stadium, the Gran Canaria Arena and the Annex, was completely cleared just an hour and a half after the end of the mass.
The president of the Island Council, on behalf of the people of Gran Canaria, presented the Pope with two gifts representing the island's traditions, religious symbolism, and reality at the crossroads of migration. These were a unique cross crafted using the traditional Canarian knife-making technique and a compass that arrived aboard a small boat that reached the Gran Canaria coast, specifically the Arguineguín dock.
“The cross symbolizes our values and our identity linked to craftsmanship. And, on the other hand, the presentation of a compass from a dugout canoe, the kind used by people desperately crossing the sea on this dangerous Atlantic route in search of a new horizon, expresses the need for a moral framework to guide us in the pursuit of solidarity and respect for human dignity,” said Antonio Morales.
The President of the Gran Canaria Island Council took the opportunity to briefly remind the King of the 19th century of the historical figure of the Canarian priest Antonio Vicente González, a native of Agüimes, who is in the process of beatification and who embodies dedication to others. Born in 1817, he died in 1851 after wholeheartedly dedicating himself to helping the most disadvantaged people during the plague, cholera, and famine that struck the island from 1847 onwards, ultimately falling ill himself.
