04. 02. 12. - 09:11

Cardinal feels 'not worthy' of top honour

Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schönborn has been given one of Vienna's highest honours after he was awarded a medal for his work for the capital city.

The so-called "Goldenes Ehrenzeichen mit dem Stern" is only awarded to people who have performed exceptional work for the city and the community of Vienna.

Accepting the honour he said that he did not feel that he had in any way deserved the honour but had agreed to take it is a recognition of the hard work of all the people that he worked with in the city.

He said: "I would like to accept it on their behalf and to say thank you for the recognition of their work, in particular for the weaker members of our community."

Speaking about the troubles in the Catholic Church he admitted that the numbers of the church community had fallen but said that the community was now richer in what remained with a quarter of registered Catholics having an integration background.

He said: "This should highlight the role of religion not as a source of conflict but because of its enormous integration potential."

he also praised the work of the church with the city council for example over the recent speedy action to increase the amount of resources available for homeless people in the current cold spell.

The cardinals 91-year-old mother Eleonore was present when he was given the honour as well as his brother Michael.

The Cardinals full name is Christoph Maria Michael Hugo Damian Peter Adalbert Graf von Schönborn after he was born at Skalken Castle, west of Leitmeritz in Bohemia in what is now the Czech Republic.

He was the second son of the Count Maria Hugo Damian Adalbert Josef Hubertus von Schönborn and Baroness Eleonore Ottilie Hilda Maria von Doblhoff.

He has two brothers and one sister and belongs to the Central European noble family of Schönborn, several members of which held high offices in the Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire, including several prince-bishops, cardinals and ecclesiastical prince-electors.