UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

By Cristina Odone

When I read about the new Judi Dench film Philomena, my heart sank. Here was another tear-jerker which, like the earlier The Magdalene Sisters, exposed the abuse that unwed mothers suffered at the hands of the Catholic nuns who took them in. The image of the Church as a misogynist institution would have such a firm hold on the public’s imagination, no one would point out that many selfless and inspiring nuns were risking their lives in Latin America or Africa; no one would pay tribute to the teaching orders that had schooled millions of girls from the poorest families, filling them with ambition and the self-confidence to achieve it.

As the film premiered, I donned a tin hat and prepared myself for an open season on “cruel” Catholics. Except that it didn’t come. In its place, I have witnessed a dizzying, breathless…