Pope Benedict's first remarks addressed to Austria's Catholics were seen as an encouraging sign, writes Christa Pongratz-Lippitt. On the papal plane it was reported that he had thanked them for remaining faithful despite the crises the Austrian Church had been through. However, this early promise was not fulfilled on the remainder of the trip.

The crisis years between 1985 and 2004 may have receded but the time has not been forgotten when a number of controversial bishops were appointed, among them Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer, who soon had to step down after being accused of sexually abusing a minor. In 2004 Bishop Kurt Krenn had to resign after a sex scandal in the seminary at St Pölten where seminarists were found to have downloaded pornography from the internet.

Meanwhile, as in most other European countries, the Austrian Church faces an acute shortage of priests and a dwindling number of churchgoers, most of whom are middle-aged to elderly and female.

For these Catholics the Pope's pilgrimage to Mariazell was home ground. They love the familiar prayers and hymns to the Virgin Mary, and the elaborate baroque interior of their favourite shrine which attracts more than a million pilgrims every year. But, as Fr Udo Fisher OSB, parish priest of Paudorf in Lower Austria, said on TV afterwards, the 850th anniversary of Austria's most famous shrine would probably have attracted 30,000 pilgrims anyway, even if the Pope had not come. The Pope's praise for the "Alliance for Sunday" - an Austrian initiative co-organised by the Churches and the trade unions - at High Mass at St Stephen's Cathedral on Sunday and his meeting with voluntary workers from across the spectrum in the afternoon met with high approval all round. Keeping shops closed on Sundays and aid to the needy are issues that a majority of Austrians agree on and they are among the most generous aid donors in Europe.

Reactions to the visit itself were mixed and each stage of the visit was judged differently. The new movements that organised the "Festival of Faith" on the Am Hof Square in Vienna - the Pope's first stop after arriving in Austria - were wildly enthusiastic. But Mgr Helmut Schüller, former vicar-general in Vienna and founder of a popular movement seeking church reform, pointed out that the Pope had spoken out on global issues, which were already being tackled daily in parishes. It was, he said, the very survival of parishes that was at stake.

"That is why it would have been so important for the Pope to discuss structural problems down at the base level. I hope our bishops will have the courage to press for reform," said Mgr Schüller.

Martha Heitzer, founding member of the "We Are Church" reform group set up after the Cardinal Groer scandal, added: "The Pope knows about the problems and so it is very sad that he didn't give the slightest sign of a readiness to discuss them and thus build a bridge to ordinary Catholics in the parishes who are confronted with these problems every day. The visit was fine - but I feel like saying, ‘What now?'"

A leading Catholic journalist, Joseph Bruckmoser on the daily Salzburger Nachrichten, claimed the Church is presenting itself as a finished, vacuum-packed product when he wrote: "Critical voices must not be allowed to disturb the celebrations. Pope Benedict's addresses avoid any form of self-criticism. Today's young, however, don't know what to do with vacuum-packed Catholicism from the cellars of tradition ..."

The Pope will above all be remembered for his resilience in the face of some of the worst weather Austria has had this year, and for his obvious appreciation of those aspects of Austria which Austrians themselves are so proud of, namely their wonderful landscape, their classical music (Pope Benedict's eyes lit up whenever Mozart or Bruckner was played) and their devotion to the Virgin Mary. Whether the visit signals "a new beginning" for the Austrian Church, however, as the bishops hope, remains in the clouds.

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