Las avalanchas de personas que intentan llegar a España desde África ha mostrado la realidad de otro de los puntos calientes de la crisis migratoria en el Mediterráneo.
This group of nearly 5,000 African migrants on the coast of Spain shows the reality of the migration crisis spanning across the Mediterranean.
Archbishop Santiago Agrelo was the archbishop of Tangier, Morocco from 2007 to 2019. He is familiar with the difficult conditions that push migrants out of their homes in pursuit of a better future.
When Pope Francis traveled to Morocco, he personally explained the situation to him.
'Those who are the most vulnerable bear the marks of Christ on their bodies.'
Although Archbishop Agrelo is retired and now lives in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, he is still moved when he thinks about his experiences in Tangier. Like when a group of young people approached him to ask for his blessing after a Mass.
ABP. SANTIAGO AGRELO
Archbishop emeritus of Tangier (Morocco)
“You know they are asking for a blessing before they are going to throw themselves into the sea to try and cross the strait of Gibraltar the next day or even that same night. So you, who are blessing these people who haven't told you anything about where they are going or how...what do you do? You bless them. And...I remember one of the parishioners told me: 'You get the feeling you are giving them their last rites.' And that's how it went.”
The Church in Tangier served many people in need. Those who suffered most came from outside Morocco. Some lived hidden in the woods despite cold winters. Archbishop Agrelo went to them to offer food and admits that he returned completely dejected.
MONS. SANTIAGO AGRELO
Archbishop emeritus of Tangier
'For the bishop to return home and get in his normal bed, the whole room becomes a painful thought. It's a reminder...you can't be in your house as though you hadn't left your children in the woods. They are still there. And that's the situation there every day. It's not that there is one week where this atypical event takes place in Ceuta. No. It's the situation there every day'.
We asked him what he would think if the Pope were to visit the border between Spain and Morocco as he has done in migrant crossing sites, such as El Paso or Lampedusa.
He says it would be a wonderful event, although he doesn't know what political implications it would have.
MONS. SANTIAGO AGRELO
Archbishop emeritus of Tangier
“He has a very serene tone, profound, lucid, prophetic. It reaches where it needs to go, that is, it reaches the hearts of ordinary people'.
“I am not able to see through politics to know why certain things are ignored and others are highlighted. I can't do it. So I don't think about it, and I continue with my small struggle to change the social conscience.”
That's why Archbishop Agrelo continues to advocate against criminalizing migrants and highlights the other face of migration which he was able to witness firsthand: the face of fear, poverty and loneliness that can only be cured with affection.
Javier Romero
TR: Justin McLellan
RR
