I would say, first of all, that Germany is part of the West, with its own characteristic coloring obviously, and that in the Western world today we are experiencing a wave of new and drastic enlightenment or secularization, whatever you like to call it. It has become more difficult to believe because the world in which we find ourselves is completely made up of ourselves, and God, so to speak, does not appear directly anymore. We do not drink from the source anymore, but from the vessel which is offered to us already full, and so on. Humanity has rebuilt the world by itself, and finding God inside this world has become more difficult. This is not specific to Germany: it is something that is valid throughout the world, especially in the West.

Extract from Knowing the joy of Serving, Interview from His Holiness the Pope Benedict XVI  August 5th, 2006 in Castel Gandolfo.