El Hierro Council President to Boycott Pope’s Tenerife Visit Over Snub
El Hierro Council President Alpidio Armas will boycott the Pope’s upcoming visit to Tenerife in protest after failing to receive an official invitation.
The president of the El Hierro Island Council, Alpidio Armas, has announced he will boycott the Pope’s upcoming visit to Tenerife after failing to receive an official invitation. His absence from the reception and papal mass marks a significant diplomatic rift.
Armas views the oversight as a sign of disrespect toward El Hierro, suggesting it reflects a broader indifference from the church hierarchy toward the island and its people.
The controversy has deepened due to the fact that other island presidents, particularly those from the eastern islands, were invited to the events. Armas argues that this disparity is not an accident, but evidence that his island is being treated as a low priority. By declining to attend, he intends to protest what he describes as a deliberate disregard for El Hierro’s place within the Canary Islands.