Spain's king urges Catalan leaders to respect region's diversity

Spain's King Felipe VI has called on Catalonia's newly-elected Parliament to avoid confrontation and to have respect for the diversity of the region.

The north-eastern region's newly elected parliament must "face the problems that affect all Catalans, with respect to plurality and bearing in mind their responsibility to the common good", the monarch said in a televised address as reported by The Guardian.

Separatist parties in Catalonia, led by former President Carles Puigdemont, won an absolute majority of seats in the parliamentary election nearly three days ago.

King Felipe VI used his traditional address on Christmas Eve to urge for unity and asked the region's leaders to help "Catalonia's society - diverse and plural as it is - to recover its serenity, stability and mutual respect, in such a way as to ensure that ideas... do not separate families and friends from each other".

"The road cannot lead again to confrontation and exclusion, which as we already know generate nothing but discord, uncertainty and discouragement," King Felipe VI added.