Search results

The Dicastery for Promoting Interreligious Dialogue is hosting a conference in Rome on the importance of women building a culture of interreligious encounter.

As the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov, World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca congratulated them and expressed solidarity with their ongoing fight for justice and peace.

World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca met with Dr Muhammad Bin Abulkarim Al-Issa, secretary general of the Mecca-based Muslim World League and Aamir Javed Sheikh, head of the Norway-based Foundation Dialogue for Peace, at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute on 31 August.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is receiving a Bridge Builder Award for building bridges of understanding between people, nations, and communities at national and international levels. The award is presented by the Jury of the 14th August Committee Norway together with The Oslo Center.

A special prayer service for those who work at the US Capitol offered an online space on 15 January in which to reflect, lament and hope for transformation in a troubled nation.

In a 24 July statement on Hagia Sophia, Religions for Peace reiterated its commitment to the universality of heritage as something that can create peace and respect for all faiths. “We call for calm, in times when we see the use of religious sentiments and institutions in a manner that is divisive, thus pitting some believers against one another,” reads the statement. “We stand on the side of peace, and of deliberate, intentional, coexistence, particularly as we hear of the voices, and see the actions, of divisiveness and hatred from many quarters.”

Throughout 2020, the World Council of Churches (WCC), together with the National Council of Churches in Korea, has been observing a Global Prayer Campaign,“We Pray, Peace Now, End the War.” As part of the campaign, the WCC is sharing personal stories and interviews that inspire others to work for peace. The story below features the perspective of U.S. war veterans, all of whom are also featured in video interviews.

A Joint Ecumenical Peace Message for the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the start of the Korean War was publicly delivered on 22 June during a live-streamed event. Co-sponsored by churches and councils of churches around the world, especially from countries that participated in the Korean War, the message describes the Korean War as an “appallingly destructive conflict” after which no peace treaty was ever concluded.

For many decades, the World Council of Churches (WCC) has worked to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula. From bringing people from both sides of the divided country together, to building an international ecumenical network to support them, the WCC has a history of formulating and promoting a vision for peace.

Seventy-five years ago, on 9 April 1945, the German Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, with six other members of the conspiracy to overthrow Adolf Hitler, was hanged at Flossenbürg execution camp in Germany. He was 39.

After more than ten years heading the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit says this is the time that "we should remind one another that we believe in God as the “Good shepherd” who promised to be with us also in times of crisis,” especially in this time of the global COVID-19 crisis.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) co-convened a workshop on 28 January to plan faith-based support for the 25-year review of the Beijing Platform for Action, a comprehensive international instrument for addressing the full range of issues faced by women globally.

In the aftermath of armed attacks by both the US and Iran, WCC reiterates its call for restraint and de-escalation of the confrontation.
“Further escalation and conflict between the United States and Iran can only serve short-term political interests, while threatening the permanent destruction of many lives, communities and precious cultural and environmental heritage,” said World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit. “I appeal to political leaders on all sides of this confrontation to put the interests of the people of the region ahead of their own interests, and to seek peace through dialogue and negotiation rather than confrontation.”

Jürgen Moltmann looked astonished when he saw his name on the list of contributors. In a recent dinner at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, my colleague Stephen Brown, the editor of The Ecumenical Review, surprised him with a 50-year old brochure.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) condemned an attack on a Hanukkah celebration at a rabbi´s home north of New York City, on 28 December, stabbing and wounding five people. Several state and local officials have described the location of stabbing as a synagogue.

“Nationalist power politics is no longer interested in truth. They wage war under the guise of peace, a hybrid form of war with economic sanctions and cyber wars, fake news and lies,” affirmed Prof. Dr Jürgen Moltmann at the opening of his public lecture at the headquarters of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Geneva, 2 December.

Thirty years ago, on 9 November 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell, the Nicolaikirche in Leipzig had gained a reputation as a gathering point for events signalling the end of an era of communist rule in what was then East Germany.

Born in Nazareth, Galilee, Rev. Dr Saïd Ailabouni moved to the US at the age of 19 to become a physician. But he was so angry at God that he went to study theology instead, becoming a Lutheran pastor. Now he is leading the Middle East & Europe desk of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Since leaving his hometown 50 years ago, he visits his Palestinian family regularly. As the World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel approaches, Ailabouni agreed to share some of his lifetime observations with the Word Council of Churches.

The Joint Working Group between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches (WCC) met in Lyon, France for its annual plenary session from 2-5 September. The group released a communique focusing on migration and peace building, outlining areas for theological reflection and cooperation.