Collectively known as the Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region, they have been added to the World Heritage List by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

The body said: “Together, they reflect the earliest activities of Christian missionaries and settlers in Japan – the phase of encounter, followed by times of prohibition and persecution of the Christian faith and the final phase of the revitalization of Christian communities after the lifting of prohibition in 1873.

“These sites bear unique testimony to a cultural tradition nurtured by hidden Christians in the Nagasaki region who secretly transmitted their faith during the period of prohibition from the 17th to the 19th century.”

The new World Heritage Site includes the remains of Hara Castle, a 17th structure which dates back to the Shimabara Rebellion – an uprising involving many Catholic peasants.

Though Japan can trace its Christian influence to the arrival of Portuguese Catholics in the 16th century, it was outlawed under the Edo Period (1603-1867) after the Rebellion.

Other attractions include the Oura Cathedral, Japan’s oldest-surviving church.

Nagasaki Governor Hodo Nakamura said: “We would like to give pride to residents and excitement to visitors through this heritage by engaging in preservation of the sites…

A group which monitors Christian persecution has re-iterated its concern the targeting of mainly Christian villages by Muslim-majority Fulani herdsman amounts to “ethnic and religious cleansing”.

There have been claims the bloodshed is being fuelled by cattle rustling and the displacement of communities stemming from a southward advancement of the Sahara Desert – and subsequent disputes over access to land.

But Release International said on Sunday “the picture of much bigger than that”.

Spokesman Andrew Boyd told Premier: “The effect of it is to displace many thousands of people.

“The interests that it serves is [sic] the interests of those who want to see the ethnic and religious cleansing of certain tribes, and the Christian faith from the north of Nigeria.”

Some local church leaders suspect the Fulani herdsmen may have been armed and supported thanks to collusion involving Islamist elements within the country’s military.

Equipped with guns and machetes, they have attacked ten villages near the regional capital Jos in the last fortnight.

Describing the recent violence, Andrew Boyd continued: “They’ll set fire to some of the house. The villagers flee the flames and they flee the bullets.

“They rush outside their villages where these guys are lying in wait with them – sometime with nets which they use to catch animals – and they’re then hacking them down with…

The independent politician, who served as Ireland’s President between 1997 and 2011, said the Church’s stance had directly affected her son who is living in a same-sex relationship.

She was quoted by The Irish Times as saying: “My church’s teaching on homosexuality is, in my view, evil.

“It conduces to homophobia; homophobia is evil.

“It ruins people’s lives. It has ruined families’ lives. It has caused people to commit suicide. It has caused people to live in dark shadows.”

The 67-year-old spoke ahead of attending the pro-gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender [LGBT] Dublin Pride event at the weekend – which she attended with her son Justin and his husband.

She said her son had been left in “the shadows of self-doubt [and] of misery of being really frightened” when he learned the church “has a view of him that is inimical to the way God made him”.

McAleese also described treatment of the LGBT community by the Catholic Church as “unchristian” and “worse than uncharitable”.

During a public interview given at the Missionary Society of St Columban in County Meath, she also criticised the Pope for not being progressive enough regarding the role of women in the Church.

Dublin’s annual Pride parade drew tens of thousands of people to the streets, including Ireland’s first openly gay prime minister, Leo Varadkar.

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Rev Michaela Youngson became the first woman to succeed a woman President of the denomination as she took over the reins from Rev Lorraine Mellor.

Marking the start of her twelve-month tenure with a symbolic gesture repeated each time a new President is inducted, Rev Youngson was presented with a Bible used by John Wesley.

‘Radical grace’ has been named Rev Youngson’s theme for the year, reflecting her passion to see the Church reflect God’s grace in its hospitality and mission.

During her Presidential address before Methodists gathered the University of Nottingham, she said: “God’s grace is radical.

“It goes beyond what is only fair, to a prodigious reckless generosity. It is prevenient grace, which flows from the Lover’s desire to see the beloved flourish, to be whole and to live in delight.

“We need to let go of our tendency to ‘niceness’ and, prompted by just how uncomfortable God’s grace is, make a nuisance of ourselves again in the market place and in the public square, refusing to remain silent in the face of systems that reinforce injustice, and oppress vulnerable people.”

Rev Youngson – who will receive support from the new Methodist Vice-Presdient Bala Gnanapragasam – was first ordained in 1997.

The Methodist Church remains one of the largest Christian denominations in the UK, with approximately 188,000…

The ex-Tory MP was ordained at St Paul’s Cathedral and his ministry will focus on prison chaplaincy.

Ahead of his ordination celebration at the Old Bailey he joked that his first return to the famous London court building since being jailed there 19 years ago would be a happier occasion.

The newly-named Reverend Aitken, who was sentenced to 18 months in jail in 1999 after admitting perjury and perverting the course of justice, told the Press Association: “Well I won’t have to leave by the back door in handcuffs this time round.”

Speaking outside the cathedral in central London, wearing his religious garb in the hot sunshine on Saturday, he said being ordained was like “a new life”.

The 75-year-old said: “I’m honoured, humbled and delighted and still slightly surprised.”

His wife Elizabeth, daughters Victoria and Alexandra and other family and friends attended Saturday’s service where 32 people were made deacons.

The former politician said Iain Duncan-Smith, Jeffrey Archer and Diane Abbott were among a crowd of 200 expected to join his party at the nearby Old Bailey.

Also among the invitees were former prisoners he had befriended during the 211 days he spent behind bars.

He said: “Call it a gathering of soulmates and cell mates because I’ve got six old Belmarshians (attending the celebration).

“I call them that because I…