Morning Catholic must-reads: 03/07/15

Thousands of protesters in Ecuador have called for the removal of president Rafael Correa days before Pope Francis’s visit.

Vietnam and the Holy See have agreed to prepare the “necessary conditions towards establishing diplomatic relations”, after a meeting between a senior official and the Vatican Secretary of State.

Police in Pakistan have saved an illiterate Christian couple accused of “blasphemy” from a lynch mob.

A court has acquitted France’s most famous cartoonist of inciting hatred against Catholics.

Cardinal George Pell’s critics “would like to see him crying”, his successor as Archbishop of Sydney has said.

Edward Pentin reports on concerns that the new Vatican Secretariat for Communications “could stifle reform rather than promote it”.

And Maria Ximena Rondon meets the nuns making the vestments Francis will wear in Ecuador next week.

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