Pope Francis has expressed "great sadness" after three Italian Sisters were "brutally beaten, raped and murdered" in their convent in Burundi (Rome Reports video). Bishop Mario Grech has urged every parish on the Maltese island of Gozo to host a family of persecuted Christians. Shops outside the Vatican will no longer be allowed to sell papal blessings from January 1 2015. The Pope has invited Argentine president Cristina Fernández to meet him for lunch on September 20 (letter). Fr Thomas Rosica says his experience at the last two synods convinced him "something had to change". Andrea Gagliarducci wonders if "a United Nations of Religions" would really work. And an umpire has said he was disqualified from refereeing a cricket match between the Vatican and the Church of England because his great-great grandfather was an Anglican bishop. Follow me on Twitter @lukecoppen for updates throughout the day.