Morning Catholic must-reads: 21/07/10

Caritas has said that a lack of funding could put the global fight against Aids back by 20 years.

The Vatican has ruled that bishops can close thriving parishes for the overall good of a diocese in response to complaints about the drastic reorganisation of Boston archdiocese.

Northern Ireland’s first minister and deputy first minister are to meet victims of clerical abuse.

Two Christian brothers have been shot dead outside a court in the Pakistani city of Faisalabad.

Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco has called for a new generation of Catholic politicians to lead Italy out of a cultural crisis.

American Catholics have offered more than a million prayers for Pope Benedict in the wake of the abuse crisis.

Robert George comments on the dispute between Helen Alvare and Commonweal magazine over abortion and healthcare reform.

Zenit profiles a Ugandan seminarian who escaped life as a child soldier.

Joan Rigol discusses the significance of Pope Benedict’s November visit to the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

And the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops has urged the faithful not to take handguns to Mass despite a new state law allowing concealed weapons in churches.