Pope John Paul held up the family as the bedrock of society as he addressed more than a 100,000 Croatians at a Mass in the Adriatic port city of Rijeka this morning.
The 83-year-old Pontiff urged young Croats to marry and raise families.
The Pope returns to the Vatican tomorrow at the end of his Croatian visit - his historic 100th foreign trip.
Later this month, he plans a brief visit to Bosnia.
