Morning Catholic must-reads: 05/07/10

Pope Benedict XVI visited the town of Sulmona yesterday to mark the 800th birthday of Pope St Celestine V (video, full text). John Allen provides analysis.

The leader of Northern Ireland’s largest Protestant denomination says he welcomes the Pope’s state visit to Britain.

West Midlands police are reportedly concerned about the cost of protecting Pope Benedict during his visit to Birmingham. Meanwhile, police in Scotland have reportedly advised the Pope not to travel the length of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh in his Popemobile.

Archbishop Bernard Longley has celebrated the opening Mass at Invocation 2010, a major vocations event in Birmingham (photos).

Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster has given an in-depth interview to the BBC News programme HARDtalk.

The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest posts photos of its recent ordinations.

John Allen unpicks the strange case of Bishop Walter Mixa.

Rod Dreher, Fr Joseph Fessio, R R Reno, Phil Lawler, Fr Z, Mollie Hemingway and Michael Sean Winters criticise the New York Times’s latest report on Pope Benedict and the clerical abuse crisis.

And David Gibson raises an eyebrow at the rise of “App-ologetics”.