Law and religion round-up – 19th March

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: Continue reading