The pastoral letter published this week by the bishops of England and Wales, confirming the Catholic Church's commitment to education and the provision of schools, can be interpreted in two ways. On the one hand, it can be seen as a proud affirmation of the Church's record. Its schools are popular with parents for their traditional ethos, high expectations of pupils, strong sense of community and record of educational attainment. At a time when education in Britain has become dominated in recent years not so much by the three Rs as the three Ts - targets, tests and tables - many parents want more from schools than a relentless emphasis on examinations.

But the letter is also a robust defence of faith schools. A year ago, the Catholic Church flexed its political muscles to fight off what it saw as a concerted attack on its schools when the then Education Secretary, Alan Johnson, sought to alter the admissions criteria by imposing a quota system, forcing Catholic schools to offer a quarter of their places to non-Catholics. Certain Catholic schools already have substantial numbers of non-Catholic pupils but a quota system would have meant turning away from oversubscribed establishments those who wanted Catholic schooling in favour of those indifferent to it. The dispute was worth fighting on that basis alone, but, if it had been lost, it would probably have led other incursions to limit Catholic provision and secularise it.

That this defence has been made indicates that bishops realise there may yet be further assaults by critics. A common complaint against faith schools is that they are socially selective. The facts suggest otherwise. The average percentage of children in Catholic schools having free school meals - a recognised indicator of poverty - is akin to the national average. Similarly, Catholic schools have more or less the same proportion of ethnic minority pupils as other state-maintained secondary schools. And with their more rounded approach to education ...

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 ...

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 ...