Morning Catholic must-reads: 20/07/10

Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino of Caracas with President Hugo Chávez, who recently called the cardinal 'a Neanderthal' (CNS photo/Francesco Spoto rno)

Venezuela’s bishops have hit back at President Hugo Chávez, accusing him of “unjust aggressions” against the Catholic Church.

Priests in Pakistan are warning their flocks that they risk provoking violence if they discuss Islamic doctrine.

The new leader of Bogota archdiocese, Archbishop Jesús Rubén Salazar Gómez, has described paedophilia as a psychiatric illness and said marriage cannot cure it.

Bishop has congratulated the East Timorese government for resisting foreign pressure to legalise abortion.

An English permanent deacon has launched a website, ProtectThePope.com, to counter attacks on Benedict XVI.

Google’s American engineers are trying to establish whether the Vatican website really was a victim of “Google bombing” last weekend.

Jeff Ziegler reports on the case of Bernard Prince, a priest who continued to serve at the Vatican for more than a decade after credible abuse accusations.

Stuart Reid says it’s unlikely that Pope Benedict celebrates the Extraordinary Form in his private chapel.

Sandro Magister suggests that Cardinal Kasper and Cardinal Ratzinger managed to prevent a complete breakdown in relations with the Orthodox in 2003.

Vatican Radio checks in with the director of the pontifical villa at Castel Gandolfo.

And a priest in India has said he will not conduct funerals if relatives of the deceased bury the dead with gold and other valuables.