Freedom of religion or belief
The UN Human Rights Council has published the first report of its Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Professor Nazila Ghanea. In it, she sets out her vision of how she plans to carry out the mandate and provides a helpful survey of the exercise of freedom of religion or belief and the international and regional standards designed to uphold that freedom, beginning with Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Pope Francis on clerical celibacy
In an interview with the Spanish-language online news site Infobae, Pope Francis was asked whether allowing clergy to marry would result in an increase in vocations. He said that he did not believe that it would have that effect, but continued:
“In fact, in the Catholic Church there are married priests: the entire Eastern Rite is married. All the Eastern Rite … There is no contradiction for a priest to get married. Celibacy in the Western Church is a temporary prescription: I don’t know if it is resolved one way or another, but it is provisional in this sense – it is not eternal like priestly ordination, which is forever, whether you like it or not. Whether you leave or not is another matter, but it is…
