CARDINAL DANNEELS WARNS OF SACRAMENTAL CRISIS IN EUROPE

LONDON (CWNews.com) - Belgium's Cardinal Godfried Danneels has warned that the Catholic Church in Europe is facing extinction.

In an interview with today's Catholic Times he said the vocations crisis in the West could mean that Catholics will become more like Protestants, forced to rely more on the Bible and less on the seven sacraments.

"Without priests the sacramental nature of the Church will disappear," he said. "We'll become a Protestant Church without sacraments. We'll be another type of Church, not Catholic."

The cardinal, who was in England to deliver a lecture at St. Philip's University Church, Salford, said that in his own country the shortage of priests was particularly acute.

"We've got lay people who are working with us," he said. "We see that without priests who are permanently there, it's difficult for lay people to play a full role -- they need to work and have families. We've reached a very low level. It's the same level as in Holland, France, Switzerland, and even Germany."

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