Search results

Addressing a Council for World Mission Theological Colloquium in the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, the head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land and president of the Lutheran World Federation affirmed the “need of a spirituality that helps us remain steadfast, that gives us the courage to act not with hatred and revenge, but in the pursuit of peace based on justice”.

Cardinal Kurt Koch of the Roman Catholic Church, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, has granted an interview to WCC News. The conversation took place at the Global Christian Forum in Tirana, Albania where 150 high level leaders and representatives of various church traditions from more than 60 countries gathered to listen and learn from one another and to stand in solidarity with churches and Christians experiencing discrimination and persecution in the world today.

The Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network of the WCC in collaboration with the Council for World Mission and International Disability Alliance hosted a two-day seminar on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Today 35 bishops and church leaders from 20 countries gathered in Munich, Germany to discuss the refugee situation and the role of the churches in Europe.

An international conference held at the invitation of the Foreign Minister of the Hellenic Republic, Nikos Kotzias, has gathered around 70 prominent religious, political and academic figures in Athens, Greece, this week.

It is raining. It is cold and windy. Autumn is in the air in northern Greece. We have just arrived at the Idomeni refugee camp in northern Greece, on the border between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). The fast-approaching winter poses as great a threat to the refugees as do the smugglers. In the worst case, winter means death.

The WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit has expressed deep concern over the renewed wave of violence in Jerusalem. In a letter to WCC member churches in Palestine and Israel, he expressed solidarity with the churches and peoples of the land, and affirmed WCC’s commitment to justice and peace in Palestine and Israel.

To achieve just peace in the Middle East, “it is very adequate to focus on what would maintain and reinforce the cultural and religious diversity that has distinguished this region for long centuries,” said the WCC general secretary.

In an official statement issued on 12 October, the WCC has expressed grave concern over the dramatic escalation of the conflict in Syria.

It was a day of “looking forward” when church leaders, journalists and communications experts gathered outside Beirut on 11 September for the one-day communications workshop at the General Secretariat of the Catholic Schools in Lebanon.

In view of the current refugee crisis, European churches are being encouraged to deepen their efforts in receiving, supporting and protecting refugees who arrive in the region. This call was made in a letter issued jointly by the WCC, the Conference of European Churches and the Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe.

Reduction in and prevention of statelessness, and the protection of stateless people in the Middle East provided the focus of a workshop organized by the WCC and the Middle East Council of Churches in Beirut, Lebanon.

In the wake of recent crisis with the refugees in Europe, it is “absolutely and critically necessary that all European states take their proper responsibility in terms of reception and support for people seeking refuge, safety and a better future for themselves and their families. This cannot be left only to the states where they enter first,” says the WCC general secretary.

“The world must support a real peace process in Syria now to stop these tragedies for peoples and cultures,” according to the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit. He said the reports received of the destruction by so-called “Islamic State” of a fifth-century monastery near Homs, Syria, is – “a further expression of Islamic State’s extremist agenda.”

The WCC has welcomed the constructive new consensus emerging in the United Nations Security Council regarding the ongoing crisis in Syria, particularly the support given to the peace plan proposed by UN Special Envoy Staffan De Mistura.

The re-opening of the Church of Panagia (Virgin Mary) Galakdodrofousas in Palekythro, Cyprus, after 41 years was hailed by the WCC as an important sign of peace and reconciliation.

A new initiative titled Ecumenical Institute for the Middle East is “promising and inspiring” in its attempt to train young Christians in ecumenical thought and history, according to Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC.

The 30th General Synod of the UCC, a member church of the WCC, has passed a resolution calling for a boycott and divestment from companies that profit in Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

The WCC general secretary extended prayers and congratulations to Bishop Angaelos of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom who has been honoured for his services in promoting human rights and religious freedom.

Deeply concerned for migrants in many regions, especially those “driven to undertake journeys of desperate risk and danger”, the WCC Executive Committee has declared: “All members of the international community have a moral and legal duty to save the lives of those in jeopardy at sea or in transit, regardless of their origin and status.”