"A united church is no optional extra," said Archbishop Desmond Tutu in an impassioned speech to the World Council of Churches 9th Assembly in Porto Alegre. Rather, he said, it is "indispensable for the salvation of God's world".

Marilyn Stahl has noticed recently that people have a growing interest in her church. "People hear I'm Mennonite, and they say, 'I wish our church was a peace church'," said Stahl, who has come to the 9th Assembly of the WCC from the School of Theology and Ministry at Seattle University in the United States.

Latin American culture received the spotlight - literally and figuratively - at the 9th Assembly Sunday evening. Delegates and others attending the event enjoyed a sampling of the region's music, dance, and traditions in a "grand cultural event".

Representatives of the US Conference for the World Council of Churches (WCC) addressed a message to the WCC's 9th Assembly on 18 February saying that the US-led Iraq war was a "mistake", and apologized to the ecumenical community for failing to raise a prophetic voice to prevent it.

"It is now or never," remarked Dr Christoph Benn during an ecumenical conversation on the theme of HIV/AIDS at the 9th Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Porto Alegre, Brazil. A resource person from Germany with broad international experience in public health, Benn was giving an overview of the crisis and its impact worldwide.

Christians in a world of plural convictions are in a place which is "both promising and deeply risky", according to the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams.

It's been five years since the World Council of Churches launched its Decade to Overcome Violence. Participants at the 9th Assembly paused Saturday to mark that midpoint, reviewing what has occurred so far and looking to what can yet come.

Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva, president of Brazil, received an enthusiastic reception Friday as he addressed the delegate body of the World Council of Churches' 9th Assembly. The president thanked the WCC for its leadership in "the quest for a world at peace".

The president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity has stressed the "irreversible" commitment of the Roman Catholic Church to ecumenism.

Water may be the earth's most precious resource, and the supply of it is rapidly shrinking. The Ecumenical Water Network (EWN) is bringing this warning to the 9th Assembly in Porto Alegre in a host of different ways.