Pope Benedict XVI has urged Italy to move out of its economic doldrums, which have caused many families increasing financial difficulties."Italy needs to emerge from a difficult period, in which its economic and social dynamism appears to have faltered and people's confidence in the future seems to have diminished," the pontiff told Italian bishops at Vatican City on Thursday.
"Meanwhile, the poverty affecting many families has made them feel more insecure, with the result that people are looking inwards and concerning themselves with their own problems," he continued.
Against this backdrop, the Pope said he welcomed "signs of a new, more trusting and constructive climate linked to the more tranquil relations between the country's political forces and its institutions."
Italy's new conservative Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in his maiden speech earlier this month urged dialogue with the opposition and vowed to uphold the country's institutions.
Following the mid-April general election, Berlusconi enjoys a comfortable majority in both houses of parliament, unlike his centre-left predecessor Romano Prodi.
Prodi's fractious nine-party coalition had a wafer-thin majority in the Senate, which caused the centre-left government to fall over a confidence-vote earlier this year.
Italy's GDP growth has been the slowest in the Eurozone for at least a decade. Latest estimates forecast GDP growth of 0.3-0.6 percent for Italy in 2008.
In an interview with Italian daily La Repubblica on Thursday, Italy's Welfare Minister Maurizio Sacconi said the central statistics agency ISTAT's 2007 report revealed "an economic and social emergency."
The report, released on Wednesday, said 14.6 percent of families in Italy claim they do not have enough money to get through the month, and nearly two-thirds (66.1 percent) are unable to save any money.
Employment has only risen in central and northern Italy, while the number of immigrants rose in 2007 by 454,000 to reach 5.8 percent of the population, according to the report.
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