Pope Benedict yesterday called on businesses and officials to stem job losses and made an explicit reference to two Italian plants to be shut soon, in a surprise boost to union efforts to keep the factories open.

"The economic crisis is causing the loss of many jobs and this calls for a huge sense of responsibility by everyone: entrepreneurs, workers, governing officials," the Pope said after his weekly Angelus blessing.

"I think of some difficult situations in Italy, like, for example, Termini Imerese and Portovesme... Do everything possible to protect and spur job growth, assuring dignified and adequate work to sustain families."

US aluminium producer Alcoa Inc. has said it will shut down its Portovesme and another Italian plant next month and carmaker Fiat has announced plans to shutter its Termini Imerese plant in Sicily.

Some Alcoa workers from the Portovesme plant who risk losing their jobs held up a banner in St Peter's square during the Pope's address to the faithful.

In strongly Catholic Italy, labour unions and the government - which has asked Alcoa to reconsider its plans to shut the plants - seized on the Pope's words and urged companies to ensure his appeal did not fall on deaf ears.

"The Pope's appeal must not fall by the wayside," said Luigi Angeletti, secretary-general of the UIL union.

Workers and union leaders at Termini Imerese told the Ansa news agency they were moved and overjoyed when they heard the Pope's address on Italian TV.

Opposition politicians also used the Pope's words to step up pressure on the government for its response to the crisis, saying the pontiff's words showed the need for new measures.

But Labour Minister Maurizio Sacconi in a statement said it was up to businesses to respond to the crisis with a sense of "social responsibility" and heed the pope's words.

The Pope in the past has said the financial crisis needs more than a quick fix and has called for solidarity to fight poverty that has been exacerbated by economic woes.