Morning Catholic must-reads: 11/06/12

The 50th International Eucharistic Congress began with an open-air Mass in Dublin yesterday attended by some 20,000 people (opening address by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, homily of Cardinal Marc Ouellet).

Benedict XVI praised blood donors at yesterday’s Angelus, saying they offer a “form of solidarity that is indispensable to so many sick people” (full text of English remarks, video).

Sister Margaret Farley has spoken publicly for the first time following the Vatican critique of her book Just Love.

The number of women joining religious orders in Britain has trebled in the last three years, reports Sky News (video).

Archbishop Mario Conti of Glasgow has said that Scotland’s treatment of asylum seekers is becoming a “humanitarian scandal”.

The Holy See has expressed “surprise and concern” at the seizure of a document intended for the Pope during a police raid on the home of former Vatican Bank president Ettore Gotti Tedeschi.

An Australian bishop who clashed with Rome has denied that he was forced to resign last week, five years before he reached the official retirement age of 75.

The Diocese of Orange, California, has announced that it will rename the Crystal Cathedral Christ Cathedral.

John Allen suggests that Cardinal Angelo Scola of Milan is trying to distance himself from the group Communion and Liberation.

Jim Roope previews tomorrow’s meeting between officials from the American Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).

Theologian Fr Aidan Nichols OP considers the future of the Catholic Church in England (video).

Ross Douthat worries that the new “liberal eugenics” may be no less deadly than the old eugenics.

John Yoo wonders if St Thomas Aquinas would have approved of drone attacks.

Mark Oppenheimer explores the notion of the forbidden book in Catholicism and Islam.

And Rome Reports reveals who was the first pope in history to be photographed (video).

For updates throughout the day follow me on Twitter @lukecoppen