Knavesmire, York
2pm, Monday, 31 May 1982

Image credit: John Slade

At Knavesmire Racecourse in York, Pope John Paul II celebrated Marriage and Family Life with a crowd of more than 190,000 people.

Some turned up at midnight to guarantee a space. At 8am, the Bishop of Leeds, the Rt Revd Gordon Wheeler, celebrated Mass for the tens of thousands already on site.

Stepping down from one of two helicopters that landed at the racecourse (for security reasons); the Pope greeted the crowd with a wave.

During his sermon the Holy Father said: "In a marriage a man and a woman pledge themselves to one another in an unbreakable alliance of total mutual self-giving. A total union of love. Love that is not a passing emotion or temporary infatuation, but a responsible and free decision to bind oneself completely, 'in good times and in bad', to one's partner. It is the gift of oneself to the other. It is a love to be proclaimed before the eyes of the whole world. It is unconditional."

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