Pope launches drive to reclaim lapsed Catholics

Pope Benedict launched a campaign to bring lapsed believers back to the Roman Catholic fold, opening a major convention of bishops on what the Vatican has termed the “new evangelisation” of the developed world.

The Church is battling losses to its practicing flock in former strongholds in Europe, North America and Latin America in the face of sex abuse scandals, increasing secularism, rival faiths and open dissent against Church teachings on homosexuality and its ban on a female priesthood.

The synod — a Church conference where hundreds of bishops meet to work out a common global strategy, iron out divisions and advise the pope — has the theme “the new evangelisation”, the Vatican’s buzzword for its drive to woo back lapsed believers.