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THE DOPE FROM THE POPE

VATICAN CITY (AFP) - A book on Jesus by Pope Benedict XVI is a runaway success in Italy with 50,000 copies sold on the first day and a second edition already planned, the publishers Rizzoli said Tuesday.

"Jesus of Nazareth" was launched on the pontiff's 80th birthday on Monday and is billed as his answer to popular publications such as Dan Brown's best-selling "The Da Vinci Code".
It aims to reconcile the historical figure of Christ with that of the Gospels.
The second edition of 70,000 would take the total print run to 420,000, said a statement from Rizzoli.
The book is being translated into 17 languages, and will soon be available in Latin America, where books by Spanish Jesuit and liberation theologian Jon Sobrino were recently severely criticised by the Vatican.
In his work, Benedict laments "the worst books, which destroy the figure of Jesus and dismantle faith, filled with the supposed results" of scriptural study.
This has been taken by many observers as a clear allusion to "The Da Vinci Code," which was criticised by the Roman Catholic Church.
The pope began writing his book in 2003 when he was a cardinal and headed up the Vatican's doctrinal enforcement body.