Search results

The World Council of Churches (WCC) welcomed the news that the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to jailed Belarusian advocate Ales Bialiatski, Russian human rights organization Memorial, and the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties.

In a letter to H.E. Zbigniew Rau, OSCE chairman-in-office, and minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland, World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca and Dr Jørgen Skov Sørensen, general secretary of the Conference of European Churches, jointly appeal for urgent action by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to promote a just and sustainable peace in the Caucasus, following renewed violence in the region in which more than 100 lives have already been lost.

A Christian vision of a Just Community of Women and Men was approached from many geographical and church perspectives at a pre-assembly plenary session on the morning of Monday 29 August. The pre-assembly is being held 29-30 August in advance of the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Four World Council of Churches (WCC) pre-assemblies are about to convene, drawing hundreds of people eager to, in a safe space, share their honest reflections and life challenges. The pre-assemblies include Indigenous Peoples, Ecumenical Youth Gathering, Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network, and Just Community of Women and Men.

Deploring the illegal and unjustifiable war “inflicted on the people and sovereign state of Ukraine” the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee lamented “the awful and continuing toll of deaths, destruction and displacement, of destroyed relationships and ever more deeply entrenched antagonism between the people of the region, of escalating confrontation globally, of increased famine risk in food insecure regions of the world, of economic hardship and heightened social and political instability in many countries.”

World Council of Churches (WCC) specialized ministries and roundtable partners are gathering on 3-4 May at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute for a “Working Together” meeting filled with a spirit of interconnected learning and preparation for the WCC 11th Assembly.

In a letter to H.H. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Russia on 19 April, World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca urged Patriarch Kirill to “intervene and ask publicly for a ceasefire for at least few hours during the Resurrection service.”

A conference held in Wuppertal, Germany, and online on 9-12 April published a message calling on churches across the world to not only listen more closely to the victims of human rights violations, but to act in stronger solidarity with them.

Bringing together biblical, theological and practical perspectives on human dignity, participants of the international conference in Wuppertal challenged churches for a common understanding and protection of human rights during the public panel discussion on 11 April.

Addressing the challenges for a common vision of churches on human rights today, the international conference “Christian Perspectives on Human Dignity and Human Rights” will take place on 9-12 April in Wuppertal, Germany. Everyone is invited to follow the public session of the conference on 11 April, when a panel of the keynote speakers will bring together biblical, theological and practical perspectives on human dignity.

World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, upon hearing reports that give stronger indications of grave violations of international law in Ukraine, expressed abhorrence at these reported atrocities, and called for full investigation.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) convened an ecumenical roundtable consultation on the situation in Ukraine, which took place 30 March at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute.

In a letter to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, president of the Russian Federation, and Volodymyr Oleksandrovytch Zelensky, president of Ukraine, World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca urged the leaders to listen to the cries of their own faithful people.

In a response to a letter from First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska, World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca expressed both his appreciation for her candid reflections as well as his own pain at the ongoing and increasingly grave humanitarian consequences of the conflict.

During a 22 March press briefing, a delegation from the World Council of Churches (WCC) and ACT Alliance shared their observations from a recent trip to Hungary, Romania and Ukraine, where they witnessed firsthand both urgent humanitarian needs and a robust church response.

In a letter to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow on 2 March, World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca asked the patriarch to mediate so that the war between Russia and Ukraine can be stopped.