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Daily Planet is a collection of short news items -- one each weekday -- that evoke and illuminate the far corners of the world. To read previous items, visit the Daily Planet archive. Send all tips to DailyPlanet @salon.com.

Thank heaven for Paradise, Italian housewife Monica Ballinari's new prayer business. According to a Reuters report, Ballinari has opened her "sinbuster" agency in her home in Varese, Italy, to help save the souls of those who are too busy for salvation.

For a mere 3,000 lire -- U.S.$1.50 -- Ballinari will perform the sign of the cross on a customer's behalf. For 25,000 lire (U.S.$12.50), she'll say a prayer in his or her home, travel costs not included. And for a whopping 50,000 lire (u>s>$25), she will work her way around the rosary in the name of a paying customer.

Ballinari told Il Giorno newspaper that she's already had plenty of success. "Life has become so frantic that people don't have time to do anything beyond work or family. That's why people have stopped praying even though they feel a spiritual need to do so," she said.

Life frantic in Italy? Ballinari should move to the U.S. -- she'd make a killing.
salon.com | May 1, 2000

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