Morning Catholic must-reads: 07/12/12

Benedict XVI discussed Europe’s economic crisis with German president Joachim Gauck during a private audience yesterday (video).

A 78ft Christmas tree from the southern Italian region of Molise was unveiled in St Peter’s Square yesterday.

Paintings by the late Gothic artist Niccolò di Pietro Gerini that hung on the walls of an English village church have sold at auction for almost £1m ($1.6m, €1.2m).

Cardinal Thomas Collins of Toronto says The Lord of the Rings offers a “vision of true leadership“.

Tim Stanley detects “the sulphurous whiff of a witch hunt” in mainstream media coverage of the Church.

And Jennifer Fulwiler, the author and blogger for the National Catholic Register, is the star of a new reality television show.

Follow me on Twitter @lukecoppen for updates throughout the day.