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World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay sent warm greetings to Jewish communities around the world as they celebrated Rosh HaShanah.

A global ecumenical prayer hosted by the World Council of Churches (WCC) on 18 September focused on the World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel, and the meaning of finding a spiritual home in the Holy Land.

In a joint greeting to the Lutheran World Federation Assembly, gathered in Krakow, Poland from 13-19 September, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Pillay and WCC moderator Bishop Prof. Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm reflected on the assembly’s theme, “One Body, One Spirit, One Hope.”

A global ecumenical prayer on 18 September will commemorate the World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel, being observed this year from 16-23 September. The World Council of Churches (WCC) is inviting online or in-person participation for people to pray, advocate, and stand in solidarity with people in the Holy Land.

Bethlehem and its basilica are signs of hope, not just to one community or church, but to the whole human family, His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilus III of Jerusalem and All Palestine told a gathering at the World Council of Churches in Geneva.

As the “Bethlehem Reborn – Palestine – The Wonders of the Nativity” exhibit was carefully installed at the Ecumenical Centre over the weekend, the World Council of Churches (WCC) is anticipating the official opening ceremony on 12 September.

In the wake of severe flooding in the Taquari Valley, Brazil, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed sorrow and concern for the people affected.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay and Rev. Rita Famos, president of the Protestant Church in Switzerland, and member of the WCC central committee, met with Ambassador Simon Geissbühler, head of the Peace and Human Rights Department at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, on 7 September in Bern.

On 28th August, during a visit with Ambassador Andranik Hovhannisyan, Permanent Mission of the Republic of Armenia to the UN Office, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed solidarity with those making efforts to lift the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh by reopening the Lachin corridor.

Forty retired World Council of Churches (WCC) staff gathered at the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey on 22 August to celebrate the WCC’s 75th anniversary and to receive greetings and reflections from WCC general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay.

After thousands of Orthodox Christians were denied access to Mount Tabor, in the Lower Galilee—site of the transfiguration of Jesus—World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed concern about the infringement on religious freedom in the Holy Land.

An ecumenical team from Burkina Faso facilitated by the local Chemin Neuf Community has been the convener for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2024 drafting group. The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Vatican have now published the material in several languages.

Vandalism targeting churches, cemeteries, and Christian properties in addition to physical and verbal abuse against Christian clergy have increased in the past months in the Holy Land, amid ongoing political tensions within Israeli society.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is calling on Azerbaijan for the immediate lifting of the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh, as more than 120,000 people—including 30,000 children—are suffering under an increasingly dire humanitarian crisis.