ADDRESS OF JOHN PAUL II
TO THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF ASTURIAS (SPAIN)

Monday, 28 June 2004 

Your Highnesses,

I am pleased to receive you at this audience, shortly after you have celebrated the sacrament of Marriage, and I thank you for the token of respect you have paid me by desiring to visit me at the beginning of your married life. The birth of a new family is always an important event:  for the husband and wife, whose reciprocal love is enriched and strengthened by divine grace, and also for their respective families and for society, since a faithful, lasting union brings new hope and the promise of life.

I then renew the good wishes that I sent you on your wedding day, and I ask God to help you in this new state of life in order to form a happy home which, because of its importance in Spanish society, may also be an exemplary reference point for so many families of this beloved Nation.
I ask you to convey my greeting to Their Majesties, the King and Queen, as well as to all the Spaniards who have demonstrated their warm affection on this occasion. I renew my greeting and my very best wishes, while I bless you both with all my heart.