Morning Catholic must-reads: 23/09/11

Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York has written to Barack Obama, telling the US President that he risks creating “a national conflict between Church and State of enormous proportions” if he undermines traditional marriage (full text).

The Pope has called for an “intense ethical renewal” in Italian public life in a telegram to the country’s president Giorgio Napolitano.

A former Opus Dei member is taking the personal prelature to court in Paris, claiming that she was treated as a “brainwashed slave”.

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick helped to secure the release yesterday of two American hikers accused of spying in Iran.

Dylan Parry is shocked by the aesthetics of yesterday’s papal Mass in Berlin.

Dr Peter Saunders suggests the BBC is acting as a global cheerleader for destructive embryonic stem-cell research.

Fr Ray Blake reports that he has received threats to shut down his blog after he criticised his local MP’s stance on same-sex marriage.

And the British singer Myleene Klass has claimed that she pilfered loo paper from the papal residence at Castel Gandolfo to give away as Christmas presents.