Austrians have less regard for Pope Bendict XVI than they did two years ago in the wake of several affairs that have tarnished his reputation.Twenty-six per cent of Austrians have a negative opinion about the Pope, versus 26 per cent who have a positive opinion and 48 per cent who have no opinion about him, according to the results of a recent poll.
A similar poll in 2007 showed 40 per cent of Austrians had a good opinion about him and only 16 per cent had a bad one.
The Pope’s standing is even worse among Austrian Catholics. Only 32 per cent of them have a positive opinion of him, compared to 50 per cent two years ago, and 23 per cent have a negative opinion of him, roughly twice as many as two years ago.
Only 17 per cent of Austrians regard the Pope’s statements about current problems as "very important or important," down from 29 per cent two years ago.
Church-going among Austrians remains stable at a low level. As was the case two years ago, 33 per cent attend services regularly or occasionally, 33 per cent do so once in a while, and 29 per cent never do.
One reason for the Pope’s diminished popularity in Austria is the so-called Friedl affair.
Linz Bishop Ludwig Schwarz recently relieved Upper Austrian pastor Josef Friedl of his duties as a dean or the bishop’s personal representative for violation of his vow of celibacy.
Friedl, 65, a pastor in Ungenach who had recently publicly acknowledged that he had been having a relationship with a woman, met with Schwarz at the diocesan office in Linz on Monday this week.
Friedl said after the meeting he was no longer the bishop’s personal representative but didn’t want to say more.
Schwarz said after the meeting that Friedl had violated his vow of chastity as a priest, which was still in force. Schwarz noted that Vienna Archbishop Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, who was also chairman of the Austrian Bishops Conference, had recently reiterated the importance of celibacy for priests.
The bishop added that he would have more discussions with Friedl in the near future.
Friedl has also been in the news because of the Arigona Zogaj asylum case. He has been caring for Arigona, 17, and her ill mother Nurie for months.
Arigona became a cause celebre in Austria after going underground and threatening to commit suicide after her father and four siblings were deported back to Kosovo in 2007.
The case caused massive controversy after former People’s Party (ÖVP) Interior Minister Günther Platter ruled Arigona’s mother and she would be deported at the end of the 2007/2008 school year.
Platter’s ÖVP successor Maria Fekter decided Arigona and her mother could stay in Austria. Fekter’s decision came as a big surprise as she is generally known for her hard-line position on law and order.
Austrian authorities have just accepted new asylum applications by Arigona and her mother, so they temporarily have a legal right to remain in Austria.
Three of Arigona Zogaj’s siblings illegally travelled from a refugee camp in Hungary to Vöcklabruck district in Upper Austria in January to be reunited with their mother.
Friedl confirmed the illegal arrival of Albona, 9, Albin, 8, and Alfred, 18, in Austria. Arigona’s older brother Alban, 20, later joined them.
Alfred and he subsequently decided to return voluntarily to Kosovo in the expectation that their applications for asylum in Austria would be rejected and in the knowledge their goal of reuniting their siblings with their mother in Austria had been accomplished.
The Zogaj family came to Austria illegally from Kosovo and settled in Frankenburg in September 2002. The government ordered the family’s deportation after their asylum applications were rejected.
The family was considered to be well-integrated in the Upper Austrian town where they settled after fleeing civil war in Kosovo. Several campaigns on their behalf were launched by residents and civil rights activists, but Platter, now governor of Tyrol, did not budge.
A poll conducted by Gallup for the Vienna daily "Österreich" shows 87 per cent of Austrians support Catholic priests’ right to marry and only eight per cent do not, with five cent having no opinion.
The newspaper added there were around 700 priests in Austria without a formal position in the Church as a result of violations of their vows of celibacy.
The newspaper quoted theologian Paul Zulehner as claiming 22 per cent of Austrian priests had a relationship with women and said other sources put the percentage of high as 50 per cent.
Austria’s senior Catholic priest has been dealing with an emerging crisis in the Austrian Catholic Church by appealing for understanding.
Vienna Archbishop Christoph Cardinal Schönborn appealed for understanding in a pastoral letter to Austrian Catholics at the end of the meeting of the country’s bishops last week.
Schönborn, who chairs the Austrian Bishops Conference that had just concluded its annual late-winter meeting in Innsbruck, appealed for understanding in the wake of a turbulent period for the Austrian Church.
The cardinal said: "Many people find it impossible to understand recent decisions by the Vatican, which have made some of them angry. I understand their reaction."
Schönborn added the Church needed to admit mistakes that had been made. "I appeal to you to remain on our common path," he said. Trust meant sticking together in bad as well as in good times, the cardinal claimed.
The cardinal also appealed to Catholics to contribute more money to the Church, noting that parishes, convents, schools and social institutions all needed support during the recession.
The Austrian Bishops Conference reportedly addressed the Church crisis at its Innsbruck meeting.
The bishops, auxiliary bishops and the abbot of territorial abbey Wettingen-Mehrerau were to have discussed the fall-out from the case of Gerhard Maria Wagner, the controversial priest who recently asked Pope Benedict XVI to withdraw his nomination as auxiliary bishop of Linz after a public storm of protest. The Pope formally accept Wagner’s request several weeks ago.
The conference was also to have addressed the problem of the increasing exodus of Catholics from the Church, "the current situation in the Church and society" and the government’s planned tax-reform, according to Kathpress. The government has reportedly agreed to increase the amount of mandatory Church contributions that can be deducted from Austrians’ taxes.
Participants were also to have discussed their June meeting with the Slovene Bishops Conference in Mariazell, Styria. The Austrian Bishops Conference has been intensifying relations with bishops in neighbouring countries since "Middle European Catholic Day" in 2004.
The bishops at least didn’t have to deal with a possible Vatican investigation of the situation in the Linz diocese.
The Vatican announced several weeks ago that it would not be sending an apostolic delegation to Linz to investigate the controversy surrounding former auxiliary bishop-designate Wagner.
Linz Bishop Ludwig Schwarz’s surprise visit to the Vatican had prompted speculation he had been summoned as part of preparations for an apostolic visitation or formal Vatican investigation of the situation in the diocese.
But diocese communications office head Ferdinand Kaineder denied Schwarz had been summoned to Rome, saying such reports had been "pure speculation." Rather, Kaineder said, Schwarz had gone to the Vatican to discuss ways of calming things down in the diocese with Church officials.
The situation in the Linz diocese heated up after the Pope nominated Windischgarsten pastor Wagner as auxiliary bishop of the diocese.
Wagner’s controversial public comments led to an exodus of Catholics from the Church in the diocese after the Pope’s nomination.
The ultra-conservative priest had hit the headlines with statements labelling the Harry Potter book series "a work of Satanism," homosexuality as "curable" and natural disasters like the 2004 tsunami in Southeastern Asia and 2005 Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans as God’s punishment of human sin.
But Wagner is also infamous for hitting out on many other subjects, as Austrian magazine "profil" recently revealed.
Speaking about Baptism and the decrease of the Catholic Church’s influence in Austria, Wagner told believers at the Catholic church in Windischgarsten: "If the Church isn’t that important anymore, why is a child brought into the Church to be baptised? Why don’t people take their children somewhere else?"
In another sermon, Wagner warned: "I would like to make you aware today that many more people than you might think have made a pact with the devil, with Satan."
Speaking about the increasing number of people leaving the Church, Wagner said: "I ask myself: What’s the matter with those who talk badly about the Church, those who have left it? Those who moan when speaking about Catholic Austria?
"They make use of Catholic holidays, and that’s something I am protesting against. If someone doesn’t want to have anything to do with the Church, he should go to work on such holidays."
Private Upper Austrian radio station "Life Radio" recently reported the Windischgarsten council would formally make Wagner an honorary citizen of the town.
People’s Party (ÖVP) Mayor Norbert Vögerl has confirmed the report, saying he approves of the initiative.
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(Source: CT)