Cardinal hopes pope's visit to Austria will encourage evangelization

Published: 2007-08-20

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Catholic leaders in Austria hope the pope's Sept. 7-9 visit there will strengthen people's faith in God and encourage Catholics to evangelize, said Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Vienna. "The biggest challenge today is mission" and taking the Gospel message to others, the cardinal told Vatican Radio Aug. 18. Pope Benedict XVI met with Cardinal Schonborn, president of the Austrian bishops' conference, and Bishop Egon Kapellari of Graz-Seckau, Austria, at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Aug. 18. The cardinal said that now, "after very difficult times," there is "a great awakening" among Austrian Catholics, who realize "our society needs the Gospel, faith, prayer." When a pornography and sex scandal at the diocesan theological seminary of Sankt Polten led to the closing of the seminary and the bishop's resignation in 2004, Austrian bishops expressed concern the scandal would cause a drop in confidence in the church. The number of Catholics leaving the church by discontinuing "church tax" payments increased sharply after the scandal, according to an August 2004 report by Vienna's Die Presse daily, raising fears of a permanent decline in Austria, where Catholics nominally make up 78 percent of the population of 8.1 million.

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