New pope's book criticizes European Union, abortion laws Material dates to 1992, but it was updated this year

ROME - Pope Benedict XVI's first book as pontiff issues stinging criticism of Europeans for what he calls an attempt to build a godless community and of the West for liberalizing abortion laws.

The slim volume — 152 pages — was penned when the pope was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican's ideological watchdog.

His first weeks as new leader of the Roman Catholic Church have been closely watched for signs of potential doctrinal change.

The Europe of Benedict, in the Crisis of Cultures contains material first written in 1992 and updated as recently as early this year, shortly before Benedict's election, according to the Cantagalli publishing house. There are no immediate plans for an English translation.

Ratzinger was a stern critic of the European Union's refusal to make any mention of the continent's Christian roots in a proposed constitution, seeing it as another symptom of a continent of increasingly empty churches often hostile to religion.

He blamed the "cynicism of a secularized culture that negates its own roots" and took issue with those who contend Jews or Muslims would be offended by mentioning Christianity in the charter.

"It's not the mention of God that offends the followers of other religions, but rather the attempt to build a human community absolutely without God," he wrote.

On abortion, he asked why societies oppose infanticide "while becoming virtually insensitive to abortion."

"Maybe because in abortion you don't see the face of who will be condemned and never see the light," he wrote.

By allowing parents to exercise their freedoms, he wrote, "you become blind to the right of life of another, the youngest and weakest who doesn't have a voice."

Ratzinger was a prolific writer as a theologian in Germany and continued writing when he took up his post as the Vatican's guardian of doctrinal orthodoxy.

The "Benedict" in the title of the book apparently refers to St. Benedict of Norcia, a patron saint of Europe. His choice of the name is seen as an indication of how he intended to point his pontificate.