Priest calls for ‘Reconquista’ of Morocco after Islamic migrant surge into Spain

(LifeSiteNews) — Father Javier Aizpún, a priest in the Archdiocese of Pamplona and Tudela, went viral in recent days after he called for a “Reconquista” of Morocco to Catholicism in response to tens of thousands of migrants swarming into Spain last week.

Per various Spanish media outlets, Fr. Aizpún, the canon of the Pamplona Cathedral, in a series of since deleted social media posts in the wake of approximately 50,000-60,000 migrants rushing into the small Spanish territory of Ceuta from the Moroccan border last week asked for the intercession of Our Lady of Africa, the patroness of the city, to spur the “Reconquista” of Morocco to Catholicism.

The priest also called for all “Arab colonizers” to be expelled from the northern region of the African country, called “Mauretania Tingitana” by the ancient Romans, and reclaim the original “Roman Hispania.”

“May Our Lady of Africa, patron saint of Ceuta, spur the reconquest of Morocco and its conversion to Christianity,” the priest wrote in one of the now-deleted posts. “Let us finish what Queen Isabella the Catholic left undone.”

“We must reconquer Mauritania Tingitana and expel all the Arab colonizers. Let only the (native) Berbers remain,” he wrote in another post.

“Roman Hispania … the original Spain … the Spain we must reclaim. Let the Arab invaders of our Tingitan Mauritania return to the Arabian Peninsula — from where they should never have left — and give us back our land,” he added.

During last week’s migrant surge, over 50,000 migrants crossed into Ceuta illegally, more than half of the city’s population, between July 30 and 31, with at least 86 people dying during the surge, mostly by drowning while trying to swim onto the Spanish shores.

READ: Horror invasion unfolding as tens of thousands of Moroccans swarm Spanish enclave

The Daily Mail reported that the situation even led to unrest, with locals taking to the streets to protest and push back the trespassers.

“Many were seen waving Spanish flags and screaming at them,” the Mail reported. “As a group of migrants were seen running away, a loud police siren was heard in the background.” The National Police union Jupol issued a statement bemoaning the “clear lack of personnel and material resources” to deal with the situation.

The Spanish government eventually sent troops on Friday to “reinforce the Civil Guard in the exercise of its powers and any others that may be necessary to maintain security in the city of Ceuta,” the interior ministry said, and would be working with the Moroccan government to return the migrants “as soon as possible.”

The mass border rush was so devastating that even leftist Spain Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez denounced the incident as “a violation of Spain’s territorial integrity.” Most of the migrants have since left the city voluntarily, according to officials.

While Catholic social teaching affirms that immigrants should be treated with dignity and respect, it also notes that a country has a right to secure its borders. In the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB’s) “Catholic Social Teaching on Immigration and the Movement of Peoples,” the conference outlines that countries are under no obligation to accept all who wish to enter.

Since last week’s deadly migrant surge, Archbishop Luis Argüello, the president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE), sharply criticized the recent influx of illegal immigrants into Spanish territory as part of a strategy by “global powers” in which migrants are “exploited for the sake of profit and power.”

READ: Head of Spanish bishops on migrant crisis: ‘Demography is a weapon’

“Biopolitics is key to current global power. Life is toyed with, and people — their dreams, hunger, sexuality, and data — are exploited for the sake of profit and power,” Archbishop Argüello wrote Sunday on X.

A clip of Bishop Athanasius Schneider’s previous remarks on the “invasion” of Islamic migrants into Europe, who are destroying its Christian heritage, played alongside footage of last week’s surge has also resurfaced across social media in recent days.

“Now we are witnessing an invasion. They are not refugees — no — this is an invasion of the mass Islamization of Europe,” the bishop said in a brief clip. “And so this is a global political agenda by the powerful of the world: to destroy Europe culturally and religiously — to destroy Christianity ultimately in Europe.”

Bishop Schneider: “They are not refugees, they’re invaders who want to Islamize Europe. They want to destroy Europe’s religion and culture.” pic.twitter.com/vsblccWr8D

— Sign of the Cross (@CatholicSOTC) August 3, 2026