Rome, Italy - THE Pope has issued a dire warning about the state of religion in Australia, saying mainstream Christianity is dying more quickly here than in any other country.
In remarks to priests in Italy, Pope Benedict spoke of a crisis for the main Christian churches as people in the Western world felt self-sufficient, with less need for Christ and Christianity.
"Certainly this is a suffering linked to the present historical moment in which generally one sees that the so-called mainstream churches appear moribund," he said. "This is so in Australia above all and also in Europe but not so much in the United States." He said the Catholic Church was not as badly off as the mainstream Protestant churches, which were in a "profound crisis" because of sects.
Many people felt Christianity was antiquated, he said. But it actually represented the future because it responded to socio-ethical problems that could not be handled by an approach based solely on a scientific mentality.
Pope Benedict made the comments during an improvised talk to priests on July 25.
The source of his information about Australia is not known although the largest denomination in this country has been struggling to reverse declining church attendance and dwindling numbers drawn to the priesthood. Rates of Mass attendance among young people are as low as in parts of Europe.
In Australia, in 2001, the attendance rate for Catholics in their 20s was about 7 per cent, slightly down from 1996.
According to bid documents sent to the Vatican, it was the parlous state of Australian Catholicism's spiritual health that was the driving force behind the request by the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, for World Youth Day 2008 to be staged in Sydney.
Pope Benedict last night named Sydney as the venue for the next youth congress, before more than 700,000 young pilgrims at an open-air mass in his native Germany.
The 2008 venue was meant to be a tightly held secret.
But rumours of Sydney's success was helped along by the Pope who was reported to have revealed the secret to an Australian on Friday.
A contingent of 2200 Australian Catholic pilgrims was on standby last night to unfurl a welcome banner. The international rally, would bring the Pope to Australia in July 2008.