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World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca expressed the revulsion of the global fellowship of churches at the murder of Deborah Yakubu, a second-year college student beaten to death and burnt by a group of her fellow students in Sokoto, northern Nigeria.

The Religious Forum Against COVID-19 in South Africa issued a statement with faith leaders standing in solidarity in response to COVID-19, and with a broader objective of collaborating in making for a safer South African environment.

How much is the mission of the church related to people with disabilities? These days we talk a lot about inclusive societies and churches. But, have we arrived there? Are our societies and churches taking seriously the problems and challenges that people with disabilities face on a daily basis? People with disabilities find themselves quite often at the margins of the societies and even of the churches.

The primate of The Church of the Lord, Aladura, Worldwide, an African initiated church founded in 1925 talks with pride about how the founder had a calling from God to have women serving with men in pastoral work. Primate Rev. Dr Rufus Okikiolaolu Ositelu, metropolitan archbishop of the church visited Geneva and the WCC on 29-30 January.

When more than 100 religious leaders and other actors from around the world gathered at the UN in Vienna in mid-February, it was a manifestation of unity between religious and non-religious organizations, and a genuine commitment to cooperate in dealing with hate speech and incitement to violence that could lead to atrocity crimes.

Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser has been on an ecumenical journey for most of his adult life, which spans 80 years. The former WCC general secretary relates some of this pilgrimage in his newest publication, “The Challenge of Transformation: An Ecumenical Journey.” On 5 February, shortly after Raiser’s birthday, ecumenical experts from different generations, confessions and continents met in Geneva to discuss the newest publication by the man who led the WCC from 1993 to 2003.

Les 80 années de la vie du pasteur Konrad Raiser ont été en grande partie marquées par un cheminement œcuménique. L’ancien secrétaire général du COE rappelle des éléments de ce pèlerinage dans son dernier ouvrage intitulé «Le Défi de la transformation, un cheminement œcuménique». Le 5 février, des spécialistes de l’œcuménisme appartenant à différentes générations, à diverses confessions, et venant de différents continents se sont retrouvés à Genève pour débattre du récent ouvrage de celui qui a dirigé le COE de 1993 à 2003.

Joining efforts to explore how to move from dependency on fossil fuel to a sustainable future, faith representatives gathered at the Indonesian Pavilion at COP22 in Marrakech, Morocco on 8 November, for an event hosted by the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry.

Religious leaders must break their silence with regard to young people and sexual reproductive health, agreed young people and theologians gathered in Ivory Coast (Cote d’Ivoire) from 6-7 September.

The African continent bears witness to the tragic consequences of the manipulation of religion to incite violence. Yet it is also the home of untold instances of the power of religious leaders and actors to exert a positive influence, said panellists at an international meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, today.

“Ecclesiology and Ethics in Africa” is the theme of the latest issue of The Ecumenical Review, the quarterly journal of the World Council of Churches (WCC). The content includes principal presentations made at a June 2015 conference on Ecclesiology and Ethics: the State of Ecumenical Theology in Africa, held at the University of Western Cape in South Africa.

WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit commended the release of the Marrakesh Declaration on the Rights of Religious Minorities in Predominantly Muslim Majority Communities.

Le pasteur Olav Fykse Tveit, secrétaire général du COE, a salué la publication de la Déclaration de Marrakech sur les droits des minorités religieuses dans les pays à majorité musulmane.

To promote strong measures against climate change, the WCC and the Geneva Interfaith Forum on Climate Change, Environment and Human Rights organized a side event to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The WCC has expressed deep shock over the attacks by extremist group Boko Haram in Nigeria, which is said to have cost the lives of more than 2,000 people, including children used in suicide bomb attacks.

Le COE s’est déclaré profondément choqué par les attaques perpétrées par le groupe extrémiste Boko Haram au Nigeria, qui auraient coûté la vie à plus de 2 000 personnes, dont des enfants utilisés comme bombes humaines.

Following the attack on the Great Mosque of Kano in Nigeria on 28 November resulting in the deaths of over 100 people, the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit extended sympathies for those bereaved or wounded.

Although climate change is often thought of as something external to an individual person, it is interwoven with personal spirituality, as well. This was the conclusion of a panel of three faith leaders during a session at the Interfaith Summit on Climate Change held on 22 September.