The president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference Msgr. Ricardo Blázquez and its general secretary Father Juan Antonio Martínez Camino have written a letter expressing their “complete and affectionate filial devotion” on behalf of all the bishops. The Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, has also expressed his wish to “maintain the historic relations between Spain and the Holy See”. Among the first to congratulate the election of the new Pope was the Spanish royal family. In his telegram King Juan Carlos declares that the government and people of Spain are united in extending their good wishes to the new pope: “Today is a day of rejoicing for the Church he writes a day in which the whole royal family prays to God to illuminate you in your apostolic ministry for the good of Christianity and of all the nations and peoples of the earth”.
