Morning Catholic must-reads: 03/09/10

Israeli President Shimon Peres meets Pope Benedict XVI at Castel Gandolfo

Israeli President Shimon Peres met Benedict XVI yesterday at the start of a renewed push for a peace settlement in the Middle East (video).

Archbishop Timothy Dolan and other religious leaders in New York City are planning to meet regularly to try to reduce the kind of tensions that have surrounded plans for the “ground zero mosque”.

The Church’s share of the papal visit costs is rising towards £10million.

The Diocese of Westminster has unveiled the route of the Popemobile through central London.

A priest in Northern Ireland convicted of sexually abusing three young sisters has been jailed for four years.

Mgr Charles Scicluna, Promoter of Justice at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has urged the Archdiocese of Malta to conclude its investigation into alleged abuse at a Church orphanage “in a timely manner”.

A Benedictine monk and Ignatius Press author has converted to Orthodoxy.

Zenit has published the full text of this week’s general audience on St Hildegard of Bingen.

Paul Sims of the New Humanist is dismayed by the tone of Wednesday’s debate on whether the papal visit should be a state visit.

The Church Mouse blog suggests that the Protest the Pope campaign is falling apart.

The Economist examines the changing face of English Catholicism.

Our Sunday Visitor says Pope Benedict will attempt to woo secularists during his British trip.

And Vatican Museums staff have spent more than three weeks this summer dusting the Sistine Chapel.