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The Catholic Church is a force for good

Unlike other branches of Christianity, flexibility has never been a feature of the Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican believes that the Pope is God's representative on earth, and that what he has to say - whether it's about morality, the role of women, condoms, or alleviating African poverty - must be obeyed. What this means, in theory at least, is that Catholicism's billion adherents have a structured framework for leading productive, charitable, and dignified lives.

But, with the modern world listening less and less to what were once its figures of authority, Catholicism has come under attack. The Church stands accused of collaborating with the Nazis during World War II, discriminating against homosexuals, protecting its paedophile priests and stubbornly refusing to concede that we need to promote contraception to curb the spread of Aids.

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