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THE Vatican has announced it is to impose a strict copyright on papal pronouncements. The edict means publishers will have to pay to reproduce any of the writings by the present pontiff, pictured, and those of his predecessors over the past 50 years. It was brought about just in time to cover Pope Benedict XVI's first encyclical, which is to be issued this week.
A Milanese publishing house that had quoted 30 lines from a papal speech is reported to have been sent a bill for Pounds 10,000. Vittorio Messori, who has co-written works with Pope Benedict and John Paul II, said: "This is wholly negative and absolutely disastrous for the Vatican's image."
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