Pope calls Catholics to charity work

? Pope Benedict XVI ended a three-day pilgrimage to Austria on Sunday, telling Catholics to keep Sundays holy and to dedicate themselves to volunteer work to spread “the Christian image of God.”

With those themes, Benedict homed in on two aspects of Christian life at which Austrians are particularly adept. Despite disaffection with the once-powerful church here, Austria remains one of Europe’s last countries banning most commercial activity on Sundays, and Austria is a leading force in social charity work.

“Without the Lord and without the day that belongs to him, life does not flourish,” the pope said in his homily in Vienna.

Austrian business groups have been pressuring the government to allow them to open shops on Sundays, a move the Roman Catholic Church has been fighting.