Pope urges support for jobless

ROME, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- An estimated 20,000 people gathered in Rome Monday to hear Pope Benedict XVI pray for struggling families and those without jobs.

Benedict urged Christians to ''show more solidarity and fill ever-widening social gaps" during the worsening global financial crisis, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

Benedict, 81, called for more aid for families as he paid homage to the Virgin Mary in Rome's Piazza di Spagna, in a ceremony marking the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

The pope urged Christians to do more to help elderly people living alone, those who are ill and immigrants who ''find it hard to integrate," ANSA reported.