The Catholic Church throughout the developed world faces a series of challenges: a fast-changing society, declining attendance, liturgical disputes, falling vocations, scandals caused by child abuse. It is an uncomfortable position to be in, whether experienced in the pew of the parish church, in its pulpit, in archbishop's house, or in the heart of Rome. The barque of Peter may not be sunk, but these are distinctly choppy waters and difficult ones in which to cast out nets.

Criticism of the Church's response to these crises has come frequently from those looking in, often perceived as attacks by people who do not wish the Church well. But criticism from within is much harder to dismiss.

Bishop Geoffrey Robinson of Australia is a man of undoubted integrity. Taken together with his intelligence, his pastoral expertise, his qualifications in canon law and his specific role in dealing with child abuse in the Church, his newly published account - Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church: reclaiming the spirit of Jesus - is a searing indictment of its recent history.

According to Bishop Robinson, the Catholic Church has  ill prepared seminarians for the priesthood, it has let down the victims of clerical sexual abuse and Pope John Paul II lacked leadership in the way he dealt with the abuse crisis.

If the Church is to restore its role in the life of the faithful, according to Bishop Robinson, it has to ensure that there are more clergy, the liturgy is improved, its teaching is enhanced, and greater participation of the laity in the life of the Church is ensured.

The Catholic Church, while not a democracy, has a pyramidal structure that should enable it to understand the needs of its flock. But it depends on those with eyes to see and ears to hear being willing to understand the signs of the times. That requires a desire by Rome to listen to its bishops and bishops in turn being able to communicate with priests and people. At the moment ...

Ever since the Catholic Peter Benenson founded Amnesty International in 1961, the story of the pressure group has been one of heartbreak. While the group, now with 1.8 million members around the world, has been hugely successful in highlighting the plight of prisoners of conscience and helping to free some of them, its existence has not stemmed the tide of those persecuted for their beliefs by governments, despots ...

The economic progress - and rivalry - of India and China will shape the first half of the twenty-first century. The contrast between them is not just economic but also political and ideological. India is a plural secular democracy, China a one-party state - two experiments in how to structure the very fabric of a nation's life. Saluting India on the sixtieth anniversary of independence from Britain is a good moment ...