The plea follows a number of churches and other religious institutions that have been closed down in recent months.

The UNHRC urged Algeria to “guarantee the full exercise of their freedom of thought, conscience and religion to all”.

It also said the Algerian government should “refrain from obstructing the religion of persons who do not observe the official religion, in particular by the means of destruction and closure of establishments or refusal to grant registration of religious movements”.

A total of six churches have been closed since November 2017 in the North African country. While three were later reopened – as well as a Christian bookshop and day-care centre for Christian children, dozens of churches have also received notifications ordering them to close.

The keyhole of a closed down church sealed with wax in Oran

A new report by the World Evangelical Alliance submitted to the UNHRC in June, stated that the church closures were justified according to a 2006 ordinance, which states permission must be obtained before using a building for non-Muslim worship.

However, World Watch Monitor reports that authorities have failed to respond to almost all applications from churches for places of worship.

Stay up to date with the latest news stories from a Christian perspective. Sign up to our daily…

The Vatican said that Francis has changed the catechism of the Catholic Church – the compilation of official Catholic teaching.

Previously, the catechism said the church did not exclude recourse to capital punishment “if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor”.

The new teaching says the previous policy is outdated and that there are other ways to protect society.

It adds: “Consequently the church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person, and she works with determination for its abolition worldwide.”

In an accompanying letter explaining the change, the head of the Vatican’s doctrine office said the development of Catholic doctrine on capital punishment did not contradict prior teaching, but rather was an evolution of it.

“If, in fact the political and social situation of the past made the death penalty an acceptable means for the protection of the common good, today the increasing understanding that the dignity of a person is not lost even after committing the most serious crimes,” said Cardinal Luis Ladaria, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Francis has for a long time criticised the death penalty, insisting it can never be justified, no matter how heinous the crime.

He has also…

It is the only part of the UK in which what campaigners term marriage equality has not been legalised due to religious-inspired opposition from its largest party, DUP.

Justin McAleese was a prominent campaigner in the Irish Republic’s watershed referendum campaign in 2015, when he discussed his experience growing up as a gay man.

Mr McAleese said he had a “huge problem” with the level of leadership in the Catholic Church but urged advocates of change to engage in difficult conversations with those who think differently.

He said: “Faith has no place in secular, registry office marriage.”

The campaigner attended an event in Belfast as part of the annual Pride festival.

The Democratic Unionists, Prime Minister Theresa May’s close allies, hold that Christian marriage is between a man and a woman and have used a parliamentary mechanism at Stormont to veto efforts to legislate in Northern Ireland.

Mr McAleese said the Church of Ireland and Catholic Church was entitled to its definition of marriage but should not be able to force that view on everyone else in the secular world.

He said: “Coming at this debate through the prism of one definition of marriage from the tradition of religion is simply not good enough when you are talking about civil registry office marriage in secular Northern Ireland.”

He added: “We need to talk about marriage… one kind of marriage, everyone…

It announced their names will be stripped from all church properties.

The Harrisburg list includes 37 priests, three deacons and six seminarians from the diocese, nine clergy members from other dioceses and 16 from religious communities.

The bishop said the conduct was classified as indecent behaviour, inappropriate behaviour such as kissing and inappropriate communication with children.

At a news conference to detail the church’s actions, Harrisburg Bishop Ronald Gainer apologised to those who were abused, the Catholic faithful and the community and expressed his “profound sorrow”.

“Many of those victimised as children continue to suffer as survivors from the harm they experienced,” said the bishop, who was appointed in 2014.

With its announcement, the Harrisburg Diocese became the second of six dioceses under investigation by the state to get out in front of a pending grand jury report on clergy sex abuse.

The Erie Diocese released its own findings on clergy abuse in April.

The release of the nearly 900-page state grand jury report has been held up by challenges by some priests and former priests.

The state Supreme Court ruled last week a version with some names blacked out can be made public as early as next week.

The court said it identified more than 300 “predator priests” in the six dioceses.

The bishop said the Harrisburg Diocese was making public the names of…

President Donald Trump warned last week that he might impose sanctions against Turkey, a key Nato ally, for its treatment of Andrew Craig Brunson in a case that has strained US-Turkish relations.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said his government will not back down and was willing to “go its own way” if the US imposes sanctions.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the sanctions would target Turkey’s justice and interior ministers, whose agencies she said were responsible for the pastor’s arrest and detention.

“We’ve seen no evidence that Pastor Brunson has done anything wrong, and we believe he is a victim of unfair and unjust attention by the government of Turkey,” Ms Sanders said.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the Turkish government refused to release Mr Brunson “after numerous conversations between President Trump and President Erdogan”, along with his conversations with the Turkish foreign minister.

Mr Brunson, 50, was arrested in December 2016 following a failed coup on charges of “committing crimes on behalf of terror groups without being a member” and espionage.

He was recently released to home detention.

He faces a prison sentence of up to 35 years if he is convicted on both counts at the end of his ongoing trial.

The evangelical pastor, who is originally from Black Mountain, North Carolina, has lived in Turkey for 23 years…