Western society is suffering a "deficit of hope" where many people seek shallow sexual gratification instead of faith and family values, Pope Benedict said in a New Year's Eve sermon.

"More than a few, especially youngsters, are attracted by false exaltations or, rather, profanation of the body and banalisation of sexuality," the Pope said during his homily at evening prayers in St. Peter's Basilica.

"... We are seeing a deficit of hope and confidence in life which constitutes the 'dark' evil of modern Western society."

A day after hundreds of thousands of Spaniards marched in in favour of the traditional family in Madrid - a repeat of a similar demonstration in Italy in May - the Pope said he was heartened by Catholics standing up for their beliefs.

"It is of course comforting to see the work undertaken in recent years by parishes, movements and religious family associations continuing to develop and bear fruit," he said.

Both the Rome and Madrid demonstrations were supposedly apolitical but both were aimed against laws, either passed or under consideration, to recognise unmarried or gay couples and make divorce easier - things considered by the Church to be a threat to the traditional family.

Benedict, the leader of 1.1 billion members of the Roman Catholic faith, said Western society risked an "educational emergency" if it did not teach its children a correct moral code.

"Without uproar, with patient trust, let us seek to face up to such an emergency, especially in the family arena," he said.