The Pope's crusade against what he sees as decadent western values has focused on Scotland, home of the kirk, the Sabbath and traditional sectarian rivalries, for becoming a non-Christian society.
His latest outburst came as he addressed Scottish Catholic bishops last week when they visited the Vatican. The ageing pontiff, who has visited Scotland once, during his visit to Britain in 1982, told the bishops: "We may observe that in Scotland, as in many lands evangelised centuries ago and steeped in Christianity, there no longer exists a Christian society."
Although the words were explicitly directed at Scotland, they really mark the sorts of concerns the Pope has often voiced about western society, where he sees a loss of faith as indicative of moral decline, compared with the continuing devoutness of countries such as his native Poland.
He told the bishops: "The powerful forces of the media and entertainment industry are aimed at young people who find themselves the target of competing ideologies."
Ironically, the sentiments are similar to those of Calvinist fundamentalists who would normally denounce him as the Antichrist but who also see modern civilisation as corrupt because it no longer adheres to strict Biblical teaching.
Keith O'Brien, the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, said: "I completely endorse [his] view. The concept of holiness is today sadly lacking in the light of our land."
The pope made his comments to a delegation of Scottish bishops during their five-yearly pilgrimage to the vatican.
A spokesman for the Scottish Catholic church said: "He singled out Scotland because he was addressing Scottish bishops, but he believes Scotland, like many other western European countries with deep Christian roots, can no longer be called Christian."