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Mass Merchandise

Pope souvenirs snapped up during the pontiff's U.S. visit

With more than 100,000 people flocking to Washington, D.C., and New York to catch a glimpse of Pope Benedict XVI for his first official U.S. visit this week, entrepreneurs have rushed to take advantage of the commercial possibilities. The Archdiocese of Washington alone commissioned 200,000 units of official pope-abilia bearing the now-ubiquitous papal-visit logo (smiling, with arms outstretched), while unofficial street vendors sold countless bobblehead dolls, T shirts, cardboard cutouts and dog tags to crowds outside the big events. Neither the suppliers nor the church would reveal fiscal details, but Mark Nelson, whose Ohio-based company Catholic to the Max supplied the D.C. merchandise, described his pope gear as more of an "evangelization tool" than a profit generator. Here, a look at some of the must-have items from the papal visit: Photo: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images