King Juan Carlos, accompanied by Queen Sofía, passed on an invitation to Pope Benedict XVI from government president, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, and the regional president of Valencia, Francisco Camps, to attend the International Family Conference, which will be held in Valencia during August 2006.

King Juan Carlos told reporters following the meeting at the Pope's summer home in Castelgandolfo, that Pope Benedict had not declined the invitation. Queen Sofía said that Pope Benedict "is somewhat more reserved than John Paul II," but "is very affectionate, charming and has a very good sense of humour."

The first meeting between the monarchs and the new leader of the Catholic church lasted 30 minutes and was conducted in Italian, although Queen Sofía revealed that she had tried speaking some German, and that Pope Benedict had spoken some Spanish. Although this was the first official meeting, King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía did meet the new Pope very briefly during his investiture at the Vatican on the 24th April.

At the end of his life John Paul II was extremely concerned about some of the measures -relating to family, marriage, abortion and religious education- proposed by Rodríguez Zapatero's socialist government when they took power following their general election victory in April 2004. These concerns were expressed personally to Mr Zapatero during his visit to the Vatican, and to the new Vatican ambassador for Spain, Jorge Dezcallar.

John Paul II visited Spain fifteen times, the last being a two day visit to Madrid on the 3-4th May 2003. King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía visited Pablo VI in Rome in 1977, and attended the investiture of John Paul I on the 3rd September 1978, and of John Paul II some six weeks later.