So, what did the Pope say about illegal immigration? Ooops, the AP left that part out. I wonder.

Dixie

Mon, Sep. 10, 2007

Turnout low as pope wraps up visit to Austria
By WILLIAM J. KOLE
The Associated Press

AP/DIETHER ENDLICHER
A choirboy prays before Pope Benedict XVI's arrival for a Mass at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna on Sunday.

VIENNA, Austria -- Pope Benedict XVI, beset by drab weather and relatively small crowds, ended a pilgrimage to Austria on Sunday by reminding Europeans of their Christian heritage as they grapple with immigration and Islam.

Bereft of huge throngs of adoring pilgrims such as the 1 million Brazilians who turned out to see him in May, the German-born pontiff appealed to far smaller gatherings of believers in mostly Catholic Austria not to discard their faith.

In a farewell speech, he urged Austrians "to bring the traditional values of the continent -- values shaped by the Christian faith -- to European institutions."

Despite a chilly rainfall, about 15,000 people packed the square outside Vienna's St. Stephen's Cathedral for Sunday's papal Mass, according to official estimates. Another 12,000 cheering pilgrims flocked to an abbey on the outskirts of the capital to see the pope.

But the turnout was low, considering 200,000 Viennese identify themselves as Catholics.

It underscored Benedict's challenge not just in Austria but across an increasingly multicultural Europe, where many believers have become disillusioned and drifted away from the church.

Thousands of Austrian Catholics have formally renounced their church affiliations in recent years, citing disgust with clergy sex scandals or displeasure over a highly unpopular government-imposed church tax.

http://www.star-telegram.com/279/story/230115.html