Italy: Pope Benedict XVI decried the collapse of marriages, telling tens of thousands of young Catholics that he was praying a crisis in traditional family values doesn't become an ''irreversible failure.''

Benedict, who is to celebrate Mass at the gathering later Sunday, told an estimated 300,000 young pilgrims who trekked to the shrine city of Loreto for a weekend religious rally to have faith that they can succeed in marriage even though so many others had failed.

''There is so much failure of love all around us,'' Benedict told the crowd, camped out on a vast, dusty field.

''How many couples don't succeed and separate? How many families end up in pieces? How many young people, even among you, have seen their parents separate and divorce?''

After hearing young people's stories about their broken homes and living on the periphery of society, he assured them that he and the entire Roman Catholic Church were praying ''that the crisis that is affecting families today doesn't become an irreversible failure.''

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Benedict has frequently decried the collapse of family values and has spoken of the need to support ''traditional'' marriage between man and woman.

The Italian bishops conference which organised the rally has mounted a major campaign to support traditional families and oppose proposed Italian legislation giving same-sex couples several legal rights.

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The Loreto meeting is the first of three meetings, taking place annually, sponsored by Italian bishops designed to reinvigorate Italian Catholic youth.

It is also Italy's warm-up for World Youth Day, the Church's major international youth festival, which will be held July 15-20, 2008, in Sydney, Australia.