On the first day of his visit to the Czech Republic, Pope Benedict XVI has called on the Czech people to rediscover their Christian roots. He described the fall of Communism in 1989 as a turning point in world history.

He argued that, now that religious freedom has been restored, Czechs should consider the Christian tradition on which their culture is based. Modern Czech society is one of Europe's least religious: only one third of the population is Roman Catholic and the vast majority is atheist.

The pope is staying in the Czech Republic until Monday and is due to visit Brno and the shrine of Statá Boleslav.

Photo: The pope in Prague (EPA)