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Pope’s Canary Islands Visit to Prompt School Closures

Major Mobility Plans Activated for Papal Visit

The upcoming visit of the Pope to the Canary Islands has already triggered preparations for exceptional mobility measures on the two capital islands. Officials are considering suspending school classes and promoting remote work in Gran Canaria and Tenerife on the days the pontiff will be on each island. Specifically, the proposal would affect 11 June in Gran Canaria and 12 June in Tenerife, the scheduled dates for the papal visit to the archipelago.

Proposed Suspension of School and Work Activities

The Government Delegate in the Canary Islands, Anselmo Pestana, explained this Wednesday, following a coordination meeting, that a proposal to suspend educational activities on each island on the day His Holiness visits has already been forwarded to the regional Ministry of Education. In addition to the possible suspension of classes, both the public and private sectors have been asked to facilitate remote work “wherever possible” during those two days.

The objective is clear: to reduce journeys, facilitate mobility, and avoid traffic problems during a visit that will mobilise thousands of people. According to Pestana, these decisions seek to “guarantee that this goes well” for an event he described as the greatest challenge he has faced since taking up his post.

Unprecedented Security and Traffic Operation

In the case of Tenerife, where the specific mobility meeting will be held next Monday, the operation also includes significant traffic restrictions and a major security deployment. The delegate indicated that this type of visit often exceeds attendance forecasts, so the authorities are already working to fine-tune coordination to finalise the pontiff’s itineraries, space reservations, and road closures with precision. These closures could affect dozens of points along the Pope’s route.

The operation will include the participation of the Civil Guard, National Police, local police, traffic authorities, transport systems, and other public entities, with the aim of guaranteeing both security and the smooth flow of movement. In fact, reinforcements are expected to arrive from the Spanish mainland for an operation that Pestana himself described as “unprecedented” in the Canaries.

Public Cooperation Essential for Success

The scale of the event will also be reflected in the mobilisation of “many tens of thousands” of people, both at the main events and on the roads used by the papal entourage. For this reason, the authorities insist on the need for public cooperation, asking people to avoid using private vehicles wherever possible and to respect all mobility instructions to prevent access routes from becoming gridlocked.

The ultimate goal of all these measures is for the Pope’s visit to proceed safely, with the least possible impact on the daily life of the islands, while projecting an image of organisation and capability for an event of international significance.

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