Morning Catholic must-reads: 27/02/12

Lent should be marked by daily prayer, acts of penance and works of fraternal charity, Benedict XVI said in his Angelus address yesterday.

A few hours after the Angelus Pope Benedict began a week-long Lenten retreat with Vatican officials (video).

“Scientism and the logic of profit seem to dominate the field of infertility,” the Pope said in an address to members of the Pontifical Academy for Life on Saturday.

Fr Edward Flanagan, founder of the American Boys Town orphanage organisation, will be declared a Servant of God next month, Archbishop George Lucas of Omaha has said.

Zenit publishes an exclusive extract from Mgr Georg Ratzinger’s new book, My Brother, the Pope, days before its release in English.

Grant Gallicho asks whether the Catholic News Service remains independent of the US bishops.

Matthew Warner argues that Catholic parishes “often make it very hard for young, growing families to participate in the life of the Church”.

And Jeff Miller discovers that all the best names for Pope Benedict’s new Twitter account have already been taken.