Pope Benedict XVI has warned Germany that traditional morality risks being eroded further by attacks on marriage and on the sanctity of life.
The Pope linked the weakening of moral principles to a new concept of God - an impersonal and invisible God who has little impact on society.
The Pope's remarks came in a welcoming speech to Germany's new ambassador to the Vatican, Walter Schmid, who presented his credentials at a ceremony at the papal summer villa outside Rome.
The Pope zeroed in on the campaign for gay marriage in Germany, saying that the Church "views with concern the growing attempt to eliminate the Christian concept of marriage and the family". Marriage should always be a permanent union between a man and a woman, open to the transmission of life, he said.
