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“I didn’t have any document that says who I am, so I started to look for answers that would help me to understand the real definition of my condition as a stateless person”, said Maha Mamo in a video interview published by World Council of Churches communications.

The International Commission for Anglican–Orthodox Theological Dialogue released a communiqué after a meeting in Larnaca, Cyprus from 13-20 October.

Maryland-based, Ghanaian-born Rev. Dr Casely Essamuah was in February selected as secretary of the Global Christian Forum. Originally ordained in the Methodist Church in Ghana, he began his work officially in July. This week he made a study visit to the WCC and the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva and the WCC was able to converse with him.

What else could your family, your parish, your community do to respond to the needs of migrants and refugees arriving in your country? Representatives of many different churches met in Rome in September to discuss that practical question, as well as respond to the broader challenge of how people of faith can combat the rising tide of racism, xenophobia and nationalist policies that increasingly target vulnerable migrants and asylum seekers.

The World Council of Churches is mourning the passing of Metropolitan Bishoy of Damietta, Kafr El-Sheikh, Barary, and the Monastery of Saint Demiana of the Coptic Orthodox Church. One of the senior and most influential Coptic Orthodox Prelates of the modern era, he has made extensive contributions in the areas of Pan-Orthodox unity, dialogue and ecumenism. He was a close colleague of the late Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria.

"Let us all learn how to listen without interrupting, and how to speak without accusing, and how to share without pretending, how to enjoy without complaint, how to trust without wavering, how to promise without forgetting, and how to forgive - and forgive is the greatest teaching in Islam - without punishing."

Christians have a moral responsibility to speak out and teach people to say no to racism, xenophobia, exclusion and discrimination.

At a global conference on xenophobia in Rome, a panel of four religious leaders from, respectively, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu and Islamic traditions, spoke candidly about how xenophobia can sometimes be woven deeply into the fabric of these traditions.

World Council of Churches leaders spoke on the theme “Hospitality: On a Pilgrim’s Way of Justice and Peace" at a symposium on 23 August at the Protestant Theological University Amsterdam.

Heads of churches in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories have reacted with dismay and concern to the Israeli Knesset’s adoption on 19 July 2018 of a new Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People, which specifies that “The right to exercise national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people.”

The World Council of Churches (WCC) Faith and Order Commission’s study group working on ecclesiology met at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena to continue an ongoing dialogue with representatives and experts on “new ways” of being the church.

The 1968 Poor People’s Campaign, the nascent movement for economic justice that Martin Luther King Jr. began just before his death, has been revived and relaunched in the US at a time of heightened racial tensions and political upheaval.

In a video message viewed by more than 1, 790 000 people, leaders in various USA-based churches are urging people to “reclaim Jesus” and reject narrow nationalistic and racist ideas.

From 16-27 April, the United Nations headquarters in New York City is hosting the 17th Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. The World Council of Churches (WCC) is assisting the participation of a representative of the Ecumenical Indigenous Peoples Network Reference Group (EIPNRG) and co-sponsored a public event that explored ways that the church can move into a new phase of interaction with indigenous communities.

On 27 March, a hug between a 7-year-old girl, Majida, and her grandmother reflected the bright light of possibility that the ecumenical Humanitarian Corridors project continues to bring to refugees arriving in Italy. The child was waiting with other family members at the Fiumicino Airport in Rome as her grandmother arrived, safely and legally, in Italy from Lebanon.

To mark the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, sport demonstrations, cultural activities, and a #whitecard torch relay, with which the WCC and some of its partner organizations are linked, will be held in Za’atari Refugee Camp in Jordan on 6 April.

On 20 March the unique program aiming to empower Syrian-Armenian youth who escaped the ongoing conflict in Syria and settled in Armenia was launched in Yerevan. Through training, capacity building and joint activities, the project aims to deepen the relations between Syrian and local Armenian youth.

World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit extended his congratulations to Dr Casely Essamuah, who has been selected as next secretary of the Global Christian Forum (GCF). Essamuah will take up the position on 1 July, following the retirement of Rev. Dr Larry Miller who has led the GCF for the last six years.

Charlottesville in Virginia hit world headlines in 2017 during clashes between white supremacists and neo-Nazis who attacked protestors, including clergy, calling for the removal of a controversial statue.

The Meeting on the Implementation of the Plan of Action for Religious Leaders and Actors to Prevent Incitement to Violence that Could Lead to Atrocity Crimes will take place in the Vienna International Center, United Nations Office in Vienna, from 13-15 February 2018.