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Pope Benedict XVI published his first book as pontiff Tuesday, a collection of his speeches at a world youth festival, which went on sale in Italy before it goes global.
Entitled "God's revolution," the book has a print run of 350,000 in Italy, where it will be sold in supermarkets, bookshops and fuel service stations.
It will then go on sale in 18 other countries, including the United States, his homeland Germany and South Korea, the publishers said.
Although the pope has had books published before, they were under his then name of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. "God's revolution" is his first book since he was elected head of the Roman Catholic Church in April.
The speeches were delivered at the Catholic World Youth Day festivities in Colgone, Germany, in August. They are interspersed with homilies, remarks and encounters with Jewish and Muslim clerics there.
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