Pope John Paul has urged Italian couples to have more children, to help reverse the country's falling birth rate.

He also wants more help for larger families. The Pope was speaking during his traditional Sunday prayer in Saint Peter's square in Rome. Italy's birth rate is one of the lowest in the world and experts predict that if the current trend continues, the population will drop by sixteen million in the next fifty years. A United Nations draft report earlier this year said Italy would have to take in nine million immigrants over the next twenty-five years to keep its workforce at a viable level.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service