Pope John Paul II arrived today in Spain for a lightning trip, saying he prayed the world would finally see lasting peace.
The 82-year-old pontiff, making his 99th trip outside Italy and his fifth to Spain, said in an arrival address he hoped Spain and Europe would look to their Christian roots and respect traditional values, including the rights of the unborn, as the continent forged ahead with integration and enlargement.
"My wish is for everyone to have the peace that only God through Jesus Christ can give; peace which is the fruit of justice, the truth, of love, of solidarity, the peace which people can benefit from when they follow the law of God, the peace which makes people feel like brothers," he said.
The pope's 36-hour trip, whose centrepiece is a canonisation ceremony tomorrow, is his first overseas since the war in Iraq. The pope was at the forefront of an international campaign to avert war, which put him and the Vatican on a collision course with Washington and its allies in the conflict.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, a strong supporter of the US-led war, was among the dignitaries who greeted the pope at Madrid airport.
The pope, who turns 83 on May 18th, appeared to be in relatively good condition as he was pushed on a wheeled platform along a red carpet to be greeted by Spain's king and queen. He gave a frail wave to a boisterous crowd of 1,000 people gathered at the airport.
The pope's visit was surrounded by intense security. His plane was escorted by four F-18 fighters when it entered Spanish airspace and marksmen wearing ski masks were posted on roofs.
In his arrival address, read waveringly but clearly in Spanish, the pope touched on some of the concerns he and the local Roman Catholic church have expressed about the moral state of the country which has embarked on a modernisation campaign since the death of dictator General Francisco Franco in 1975.
The crowd interrupted to chant: "John Paul II. Everybody loves you." The pope departed from his prepared text to quip: "That may be true in Spain!", bringing laughter from the crowd.
The pope and the church in Spain - a country that is 85 per cent Catholic - feel that God has been left behind in the secularisation of society in recent years.
Organisers have laid on a relatively light schedule for the pope, who suffers from Parkinson's disease and arthritis. After a few hours' rest, the pope was due to hold private talks with Mr Aznar and preside at a youth rally.