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World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay denounced continuing attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Russia’s ongoing illegal war against the people of Ukraine.

World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca expressed grave concern over continued recurrent attacks by Russian forces on energy facilities and other civilian infrastructure and areas in Ukraine, including most recently a maternity unit in which a newborn baby was killed.

During its travels in Moscow, a World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation visited the Humanitarian Aid Center, a church initiative which started in March 2022, after the beginning of the war in Ukraine. Most of the refugees from Ukraine who arrive in Moscow have friends or relatives in the Russian capital. Nevertheless, their need is great. Around 500 people knock at the door of the Refugee Centre every day. At the refugee drop-in centre, they receive daily necessities, basic food, products for personal hygiene and, if they do have children, the necessary basic equipment for them. Many of the people who come to the drop-in centre suffer from psychological problems and traumatic experiences. After initial treatment, they are referred to professionals.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Fr Ioan Sauca met on 17 October in Moscow, discussing how churches are called to be peacemakers.

World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca visited Moscow this week, meeting with H.H. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Russia, and representatives from the largest WCC member church.

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.

A statement from the World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly, “War in Ukraine, Peace and Justice in the European Region,” denounces “the illegal and unjustifiable” Russian invasion of Ukraine and renews the call for a ceasefire.

Ukrainian archbishop Yevstratiy of Chernihiv and Nizhyn, in a press briefing at the World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly, told journalists that the Orthodox Church of Ukraine has applied to become a full member of the WCC and the Conference of European Churches.

War in Ukraine, church dialogue, and humanitarian response were in sharp focus on third day of the World Council of Churches 11th Assembly. Church leaders from Ukraine together with heads of ecumenical organisations emphasised the need for reconciliation, unity, and peacebuilding.

During the recent solidarity visit in Ukraine, a World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation has met with various state institutions working with religious issues, listening and learning from the victims of the ongoing war and asking for support in giving permission to the members of the delegation of Ukrainian Churches to leave the country and attend the WCC 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe. 

World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca expressed great concern in the wake of a 7.3-magnitude earthquake that struck the northern part of Luzon Island in the Philippines on 27 July.

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.”

The world faces a global crisis on food exacerbated and brought to the fore by the war in Ukraine, but humanity can and must take remedial steps in economic and climate justice, a World Council of Churches-led meeting has heard.

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.”

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.