|PIC1|Pope Benedict XVI has told thousands of Catholics on Saturday that Europe faces a bleak future unless more children are born on the continent and its people return to faith in God and traditional values, reports Reuters news agency.

Around 30,000 Catholics braved the cold and rain to hear the Pope preach in an outdoor mass at a shrine to the Virgin Mary in the Austrian mountains on the 850th anniversary of its founding.

Cardinals and bishops wore clear plastic rain protectors over their vestments as the Pope spelled out the challenges facing the Catholic Church in an era of diminishing membership, low birth rates and dominant consumerism across modern-day Europe.

"Europe has become child-poor," he said. "We want everything for ourselves and place little trust in the future."

The 80-year-old Pope last week called on European leaders to do all they could to raise the birth rate across Europe by introducing pursuing more child-friendly policies.

In an address at the Hofburg Palace, he reminded diplomats and representatives of international organisations that European history and culture had been forged out of its Christian roots.

He also reiterated the Catholic Church's strong opposition to abortion, saying that it was not a human right.

In Austria this weekend, Pope Benedict said that the future of Europe depended on its people restoring faith in God and traditional values.

"Where God is, there is the future," he said, appealing to the drenched crowd live a "responsible life" of love.