SPAIN WELCOMES THE POPE

Edition: 321

Pope John Paul II paid an official visit to Spain at the weekend, his fifth since becoming Pope in 1978. He was welcomed at the airport in Madrid on Saturday by King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía, and held an audience with Prime Minister José María Aznar during the afternoon before going on to speak to a gathering of about 600,000 young people at Cuatro Vientos aerodrome in the evening. Although physically frail, the Pope, who is now 83, spoke in a firm voice to the crowd, telling them that their response to blind violence and inhuman hate should be the fascinating power of love, and advising them to conquer enmity with the force of forgiveness. On Sunday, the Pope’s schedule included the canonisation of five Spanish saints during a Mass in Madrid’s Plaza de Colón, a lunch meeting with Spanish cardinals and members of the executive committee of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, and a meeting with the King and Queen shortly before leaving Spain in the early evening.