Morning Catholic must-reads: 31/10/13

The US National Security Agency (NSA) has denied Italian reports that it spied on the Vatican during the conclave.

Russia is considering granting citizenship to about 50,000 Syrian Christians, reports Vatican Insider.

The Catholic Church has “a strong collaboration” with the World Council of Churches, even though it is not a WCC member, the Vatican’s chief ecumenist Cardinal Kurt Koch has said.

The Murphy Commission on clerical abuse in Dublin archdiocese was “flawed“, the Irish Association of Catholic Priests has claimed.

Sister Margaret Atkins argues that St Augustine wasn’t “the first Christian Just War theorist“.

Brantly Millegan reveals which Church Father described shaving as “reprehensible“.

And an Italian artist has dismantled a southern Italian church and rebuilt it at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York.

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