VATICAN CITY -- In one of the world's biggest publishing deals, Pope John Paul on Wednesday launched a little white book outlining his thoughts on everything from Buddha to women, Jews to abortion and Marxism to eternity.


Millions of copies of "Crossing the Threshold of Hope" will go on sale in 21 languages Thursday.


In the book, the Pope speaks of the anguish he faces when making often unpopular decisions that affect the world's 960 million Roman Catholics, the power of prayer and humanity's grasping for spiritual meaning as it approaches the year 2000.


He rejects accusations that Church rulings on sexuality make it backward, recalls the horrors of the Holocaust and condemns anti-Semitism as "a great sin against humanity."


Church officials said they hoped the book would provide inspiration to Catholics and non-Catholics alike.


In it, the Pope, 74, also tries to answer questions such as why there is so much evil in the world, whether God exists, and whether salvation and life after death are credible tenets.


"It is important to cross the threshold of hope, not to stop before it but to let oneself be led," he writes.


It is the first book written commercially by a Pope for the general public and has a stunning initial worldwide print run of 20 million, according to its Italian publisher Mondadori.


Church officials and publishers expect the book to rake in millions of dollars, which will go to charity.