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Cameroon has been identified as a nation with a high prevalence of HIV and AIDS, according to a UNAIDS report. What are churches in the country doing to aid in healing communities faced with the threat of this disease?

The WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit has expressed “deep sorrow” over the death of Patriarch Mor Ignatius Zakka Iwas, supreme spiritual head of the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch and All the East.

Am 20. März empfing der ÖRK Vertreter des Jüdischen Weltkongresses im ökumenischen Zentrum in Genf (Schweiz). Anlass für die Begegnung war die Wiedereröffnung der Büros des Jüdischen Weltkongresses in Genf.

The WCC welcomed representatives of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) on 20 March at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The meeting was held following reopening of the WJC’s office in Geneva.

Joining his voice to those of the churches in Palestine and Israel, the WCC general secretary has expressed “grave concern” about a law recently passed by the Israeli parliament.

An “inter-generational dialogue on faith, culture, HIV and sexual reproductive health and rights” was initiated on 11 March in New York City by the World YWCA in partnership with the WCC and other international organizations. The dialogue was organized as a side event at the United Nations 58th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women.

Following clashes between protesters and police in Venezuela, which left around 20 people dead in February, the WCC president for Latin America and the Caribbean, Rev. Gloria Nohemy Ulloa Alvarado, expressed concern over the violence. She made these comments on 10 March, conveying solidarity with the churches in Venezuela.

The WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said that “fervent prayer offered by Christians around the world” was answered with release of Greek Orthodox nuns kidnapped by rebels in the Syrian Christian town of Maaloula.

In einer Audienz mit Papst Franziskus im Vatikan betonte der Generalsekretär des ÖRK, Pastor Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, die Bedeutung der christlichen Einheit. Zudem äußerte er seine Wertschätzung für den Aufruf von Papst Franziskus, für Frieden in Syrien zu beten, seine Aufforderung an die Kirchen, die Armen nicht zu vergessen und an alle Christen, sich für wirtschaftliche Gerechtigkeit einzusetzen.

In an audience with Pope Francis in the Vatican, the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit stressed the significance of Christian unity. He also expressed appreciation for Pope Francis’s call to pray for peace in Syria and his call for churches to remember the poor, encouraging Christians to work for economic justice.

Faith-based organizations, with the United Nations, have urged expansion of access to anti-retroviral treatment for persons living with HIV and AIDS in a consultation organized by the UNAIDS and Caritas Internationalis, from 25 to 26 February in Rome, Italy.

The WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit has congratulated new leaders of the South African Council of Churches, elected recently at its Triennial Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, 25 to 26 February.

The WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit has expressed deep sadness over the death of the Rev. Ron O’Grady, who passed away on 26 February at the age of 83 after a battle with cancer.

“The WCC is deeply concerned by the current dangerous developments in Ukraine,” the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC said on Monday, 3 March.

Am Montag, 3. März hat die Kampagne „Sieben Wochen im Zeichen des Wassers“ begonnen. Kirchen, glaubensorientierte Organisationen und Menschen überall auf der Welt sind eingeladen, auf eine „Pilgereise zur Wassergerechtigkeit“ zu gehen. Das Thema während der Fastenzeit jede Woche anhand von Betrachtungen behandelt, die das Bewusstsein für die Forderung eines universellen Zugangs zu Wasser und sanitärer Versorgung öffnen sollen.

Starting on Monday, 3 March, the “Seven Weeks for Water” campaign invites churches, faith-based organizations and individuals around the world to join a “pilgrimage towards water justice”.

Dr Dietrich Werner is the recipient of an honorary Doctorate in Divinity, awarded to him by Serampore College in India. The title was conferred in recognition of Werner’s long-term contributions to theological education, mission and ecumenism, and for building ecumenical partnerships among Christian academic institutions in Asia and advising forums on theological education in India.

Public health and human rights remain woefully unprotected from nuclear disasters. This is a key assessment of a “Human Rights and Natural Disasters” workshop, three years after the Fukushima disaster and 30 years since Chernobyl. The workshop was hosted by the WCC on 28 February in Geneva, Switzerland

The WCC has expressed its support for an appeal against a Malaysian court’s decision in October 2013 forbidding the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims. This development, the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said, risks jeopardizing “fundamental values and the long history of multi-religious co-existence in Malaysia”.

The WCC has expressed “great concern” over the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) judgment in the case of Perinçek v. Switzerland, recalling that the Swiss National Council and the Federal Tribunal in the past have clearly recognized the Armenian genocide as a historical fact.