Although the Pope’s events during the Sept. 7-9 visit were low-key, his message was not.

To diverse audiences of Catholic faithful, politicians, church ministers and volunteers, he argued that Europe risks adopting a godless vision that will inevitably lead to a spiritual, social and demographic dead end.

One of the Pope’s most telling speeches came in Vienna on the first day of his trip, when he addressed a group that included scores of international diplomats and representatives. Instead of covering the usual list of global trouble spots, the Pope made a strong pro-life appeal, zeroing in on the problems of abortion and euthanasia.

Beyond the moral issue of the taking of innocent life, the Pope raised a wider question: whether Europe, with its low birth rate and rapidly aging population, is “giving up on itself.”

{sidebar id=2}He hammered home the same theme the next day, telling 30,000 people at the Marian sanctuary of Mariazell, “Europe has become child-poor: We want everything for ourselves and place little trust in the future.”

His sermon at Mariazell also focused on the modern tensions among religious truth, interreligious sensitivity and the fear of intolerance. It’s an issue he raised a year ago in Regensburg, Germany, in a speech that drew criticism because of comments about Islam. This time, the Pope avoided specific remarks about other religions, but insisted that the church can and must proclaim Christ as the universal Saviour.

“This does not mean that we despise other religions, nor are we arrogantly absolutizing our own ideas,” he said.

Rather, he said, it means the church will never accept an “attitude of resignation” toward the truth, the assumption that truth cannot be known. It is this attitude that “lies at the heart of the crisis of the West, the crisis of Europe,” he said.

The Pope then emphasized a point that has become a touchstone of his pontificate: the Christian conviction that “at the origin of everything is the creative reason of God.” This is the principle that has shaped Europe’s history and must orient its future, he said.

More than once, the Pope stressed that Christianity was not merely a “moral code” but a religion that embodies love of God and neighbour. In his final meeting in Austria, the Pope applied this vision to the practical area of volunteer charity work, which he said touches the heart of the Christian message. The Pope said this kind of personal, selfless activity cannot simply be delegated to the state or the market economy — in fact, he said, in a “culture which would calculate the cost of everything,” Christian charity “shatters the rules of a market economy.”

It was a strong reminder of a point the Pope made in his 2006 encyclical, Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love), that state social policies can never replace the personal commitment of individuals.

By design, none of the papal events in Austria were big ones and, thanks in part to steady rain, the low crowd expectations proved correct. But most of the Pope’s appearances were televised, and Austrian church sources believe the trip’s impact will be felt in the discussion and reflection that follows his departure.

One important factor was that the German Pope spoke their language and felt at home in Austria, a country that despite internal church problems remains about 75 per cent Catholic. The Pope did not directly take up the problems — including seminary sex scandals and tensions over church teachings — that have left some Catholics alienated from the Catholic Church in recent years. He alluded to them in remarks to reporters on his plane from Rome, saying he was grateful to those who have remained faithful despite the difficulties and that he hoped to help “heal the wounds,” but there was no detailed follow-up during his stay in Austria.

Instead, the Pope stuck to more basic Christian themes, as he has throughout his pontificate. He offered beautifully crafted sermons on the power of prayer, the importance of Sunday Mass and even the modern relevance of poverty, chastity and obedience in religious life. These are eminently religious themes that do not usually produce front-page headlines around the world. But they reflect one of the big reasons Pope Benedict was elected in 2005: The cardinals felt he was the man who could revitalize the church at its base, especially in Europe.

The Austrian visit saw Pope Benedict in the teaching role he loves. It is teaching with an edge, however — the edge of a pastor worried about the future of the faith on Christianity’s home ground.