News
Visitors to the World Council of Churches (WCC) doing the first two weeks in June delved into many topics, from human rights, to combatting xenophobia, to engaging young people in ecumenism.
On 2 June, Robert Dawes, Anglican Alliance CEO, and Paulo Ueti, Anglican Alliance theological advisor and regional director for Latin America, discussed issues related to Faith and Order, then received a guided tour and introduction to the WCC.
On 3 June, Rev. Frank Chikane, preacher at Apostolic Faith Mission Church, discussed racism, discrimination, and xenophobia, and received an update on WCC governance and planning.
He also dialogued on the sociopolitical and economic situation in South Africa, and the challenges of social cohesion, especially with the reemergence of racist rightwing politics and current challenges with the US.
Chikane offered an update on the South African chapter of the Anti-Apartheid Movement, as well as on the Africa and African diaspora global conference scheduled for October 2026.
On 4 June, 33 students from the Kempten University of Applied Sciences received an introduction to the WCC, and concentrated their meetings on human rights.
On 5 June, 14 people from a confirmation group from Grisons, Switzerland, visited, focusing on spiritual life, and on the role of young people in the ecumenical movement.
“Being in Geneva showed me that the church can be hopeful, happy, and cool,” said 15-year-old Milena Maria Berger, one of the confirmands. “I felt a lot of love, met new people, and found real community. I think it's important for young people to learn more about their religion, take care of others, and help them find happiness.”
Another confirmand, 15-year-old Gianluca Della Bella, spoke of learning about six key elements of spiritual life: supplications, sensory, sermon, silence, scriptures, and songs.
“And I will remember how young people are active in the ecumenical movement,” said Bella.
On 11 June, priests from the Diocese of Milan visited the WCC, receiving a welcome and introduction, then dialoguing about church and ecumenical relations as well as the WCC Commission on Faith and Order.
Every year the teachers and the educators of the Milan seminary choose a significant place to experience a few days of cultural updating. On the occasion of the anniversary of the end of the Second Vatican Council, the group noted that it seemed significant to to come to Geneva, where cooperation between the Catholic church and the ecumenical movement officially began.
“In particular, as many of us are teachers of theology and sacred scripture, we wanted to better understand what doctrinal issues the WCC was most committed to,” said Don Martino Mortola, professor of Systematic Theology, Theological Faculty of Northern Italy (Milan Seminary Section).
“Our expectations were abundantly fulfilled.”
Mortola added that the meetings with the WCC gave the group an insight into the history and future plans for cooperation.
“Certainly the climate is different from the enthusiasm that accompanied the beginnings of this cooperation,” he said. “The reports we listened to did not want to minimise the difficulties of the path; at the same time, the choice to keep open a place of multilateral relations as opposed to only bilateral relations (certainly simpler), is a choice that can also be prophetic for today's society, which sees precisely the crisis of international bodies.”
Mortola added that, personally, he was very impressed by the method used to reach consensus on the different topics. “Even within individual communities within the same Christian denomination, there is the problem of articulating unity in diversity, and in this the WCC can also teach a lot to the synodical practices of each church,” he said. “Finally, it emerged how the anthropological issue and sexual identity is a transversal theme that is engaging all the Christian churches and on which a basic consensus would be desirable for the good of humanity itself.”
