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Mass merchandising

Francis X. Rocca

Storefront churches are a long tradition in the United States, but in Italy, they still make news. Today’s edition of the Milan paper Corriere Della Sera reports that priests are now offering Sunday Mass in a movie theater at a shopping center in suburban Rome. Pope Benedict has denounced Sunday shopping (a relatively recent practice here) as a distraction from worship. No word yet if he regards this as a satisfactory solution.

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