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The WCC staff working in the field of inter-religious dialogue and cooperation welcomed in Geneva representatives of the Roman Catholic Church, continuing the practice of regular annual meetings between staff of the Vatican and the WCC.

Nearly one hundred representatives of the German member churches of the WCC met from 16 to 18 January at the Evangelical Academy of Loccum in order to share their experiences from the WCC 10th Assembly and to discuss how they would continue their way together on their pilgrimage of justice and peace.

Young Christians from around the world are invited to apply to the WCC Stewards Programme for the WCC Central Committee meeting which will be held from 26 June to 10 July 2014. Applicants must be between the ages of 18 and 30 years old.

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity has been globally celebrated this year with prayers, reflections, ecumenical services and events focusing on Paul’s question in Corinthians 1 “Has Christ been divided?” a theme for this year’s prayer materials, prepared by the Canadian churches.

The WCC general secretary, following a session on climate change at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, stressed the “significant role of financial policy-making by the states in addressing climate change.”

Archbishop S. Tilewa Johnson, Anglican primate of the Church of the Province of West Africa and a member of the Central Committee of the WCC, died of a suspected heart attack at the age of 59 on Tuesday 21 January.

While the Geneva 2 talks for peace in Syria are scheduled to begin in Switzerland today, 22 January, churches from around the world continue to call for visible actions to be taken to put an end to the conflict in Syria, leading the way towards justice, peace and stability.

The WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit reflected on the message from Pope Francis on the World Day of Peace, participating in an inter-religious service held at the St. Nicolas de Flue Church in Geneva, along with other religious leaders representing Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist communities in Switzerland.

In a talk organized by the Archives of the WCC, Elisabeth Baumgartner, a Swiss lawyer and head of the project “Dealing with the Past” at the Swiss Peace Foundation (swisspeace), stressed the importance of archives and documentation in dealing with the past, which she said is pertinent to the institutional and informal mechanisms seeking justice, reconciliation and conflict resolution.

A statement from churches around the world urging an end to the armed conflict in Syria, ahead of the Geneva 2 talks scheduled to take place on 22 January was presented to Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations-Arab League joint representative for Syria, by the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit today in Geneva, 20 January.

À quelques jours de la conférence dite de «Genève 2», qui doit se tenir le 22 janvier, une déclaration d'Églises du monde entier appelant à la fin du conflit armé en Syrie a été remise à Lakhdar Brahimi, représentant spécial conjoint des Nations Unies et de la Ligue des États arabes pour la Syrie, par le pasteur Olav Fykse Tveit, secrétaire général du COE, le 20 janvier à Genève.

With the Geneva 2 talks on Syria scheduled for 22 January, some 30 church leaders from Syria and around the world gathered a week ahead of time at the headquarters of the WCC in Geneva, Switzerland, and called for substantial action be taken at the talks to end the armed conflict.

À l'approche des négociations dites de «Genève 2» le 22 janvier, une trentaine de responsables d'Église de Syrie et du monde entier se sont réunis à une semaine de l'échéance au siège du COE à Genève, où ils ont appelé à ce que des mesures concrètes soient prises lors des négociations visant à mettre fin au conflit armé en Syrie.

The Ecumenical Panel on a New International Financial and Economic Architecture has concluded its second meeting in Switzerland, developing advocacy strategies for churches to ensure economic justice and the ecological wellbeing of the communities they serve.

Chief contributions and highlights of the WCC 10th Assembly are available in the newest issue of The Ecumenical Review, a quarterly journal of the WCC.

The WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit invoked “prayers for God’s blessings” at the opening of new central offices of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) in Hannover, Germany. The WCRC recently relocated its office to Hannover after having been based in Geneva for 65 years.

The WCC general secretary is calling on the council's 345 member churches and churches around the world to continue to pray for the safe return of the twelve nuns abducted from the Convent of St Thecla in the historical town of Maaloula on 2 December 2013, as well as the two Archbishops of Aleppo in Syria Mar Yohanna Gregorios Ibrahim from the Syriac Orthodox Church and Archbishop Paul Yazigi from the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch who were kidnapped in April 2013 near Aleppo, Syria on their way back from a humanitarian mission.

Church leaders from various denominations in South Sudan issued a letter Wednesday expressing sadness and condemnation concerning the recent violence in the country and are calling on the government to “take control of the situation and protect its citizens.”

A contract for the development of the Ecumenical Centre and WCC offices has been awarded to the Geneva-based firm LRS Architectes after they won an architectural competition.