FREIBURG, Germany (Reuters) – Pope Benedict urged Catholics in his native Germany on Sunday to close ranks behind him rather than demand reforms or leave the Church, a staunchly conservative message that some who came to hear him found frustrating.

Addressing about 100,000 people during mass at a small airport near the southwestern city of Freiburg, he said the sometimes fractious Church needed to unite around him and the German bishops.

FREIBURG, Germany (Reuters) – Pope Benedict appealed for unity on Sunday from Catholics in his native Germany who have been leaving the Church in record numbers, but many who came to hear him said they were frustrated by his staunchly conservative message.

Delivering his last major address of a four-day trip at a mass for tens of thousands of people at a small airport near the southwestern city of Freiburg, the Pope called on Catholics to unite to behind his own leadership.

FREIBURG, Germany (Reuters) – Pope Benedict said on Saturday the Catholic Church could not accept gay marriage and urged young people to root out evil in society and shun a “lukewarm” faith that damages their Church.

The 84-year-old pope ended the third day in his homeland with a rally for more about 30,000 young people at a fairground outside the southern city of Freiburg, a Catholic area where he received the warmest welcome of his trip so far.

FREIBURG, Germany (Reuters) – Pope Benedict straddled his homeland’s religious and geographic divisions on Saturday, praising the faithful for enduring communism’s “acid rain” effect in former East Germany and then addressing cheering Catholic crowds in the west.

At a mass in the medieval main square during a subdued visit to Erfurt, where only about seven percent of people are Catholic, he praised eastern Germans who stayed loyal to the Church during oppressive years under Nazism and communism.

ERFURT, Germany (Reuters) – Pope Benedict held a surprise meeting on Friday with victims of clerical sexual abuse and expressed his deep regret for their suffering, saying the church was committed to the protection of children, the Vatican said.

The private meeting came on the second day of Benedict’s four-day trip to Germany, where record numbers of Catholics have officially left the faith in protest at clerical abuse, and where the Church faces some 600 requests for compensation.

ERFURT, Germany (Reuters) – Pope Benedict, visiting the German monastery where Martin Luther lived before launching the Reformation, warned his Lutheran hosts on Friday that what he called “a new form of Christianity” posed a challenge to mainline Protestants and Catholics alike.

While not naming them, it was clear that the pope, whose visit to this small city south of Berlin was sparsely attended, was referring to the evangelical and Pentecostal churches which have been attracting converts from more established churches, especially in Third World countries.

BERLIN, Sept 21 (Reuters) – Germany’s cabinet approved a
deal on Wednesday to tax money stashed by the country’s citizens
in secret Swiss accounts, brushing off fierce criticism from
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s opponents that its terms are too
generous.

The bilateral agreement, resolving a diplomatic spat that
peaked when a Swiss politician compared a former German finance
minister to a Nazi, should net Berlin billions of euros and will
force the Swiss banking sector to clean up its act.

BERLIN (Reuters) – By picking a fight with Angela Merkel over the euro zone crisis to boost their popularity, Germany’s Free Democrats (FDP) have deepened rifts in her coalition, hurt the chancellor’s authority and emboldened rebels before a crucial vote on the bailout fund.

The infighting could even undermine Merkel’s standing abroad at a time when the 17-member currency bloc is looking to Europe’s biggest economy for leadership in the debt crisis.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Among the posters plastered around Berlin ahead of a regional vote on Sunday, the bright colors, unconventional photography and thought-provoking slogans of the Pirate Party stand well out from the pack.

“We have the questions, you have the answers,” reads one, and “The Internet in the hands of the users” another, reflecting the party’s grass-roots, populist agenda.

BERLIN, Sept 6 (Reuters) – Germany’s finance minister gave a
bullish view of Europe’s bulwark economy to lawmakers discussing
the country’s 2012 budget on Tuesday, although plans to slash
new borrowing could prove optimistic given signs of a slowdown.

Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said he still expected
gross domestic product to expand 3 percent this year, playing
down a slew of negative data and adding that Germany had proven
it was possible to consolidate the budget without choking
growth.