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The First Ecumenical Prayer for Creation will take place 31 August and 1 September in Assisi, Italy, the city of Francis. The two-day event is the latest sign of momentum for environmental protection growing among leaders of Christian denominations.

At the 71st Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, held 1-11 August, the Ecumenical Jury awarded its prize to the film “Sibel,” directed by Guillaume Giovanetti and Çağla Zencirci.

In the wake of a tragic collapse of a motorway bridge in Genoa, Italy, World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri offered condolences and prayers on behalf of the WCC global fellowship.

It’s taken a while, but a Protestant congregation in Italy has learned to live together despite wide cultural diversity. The process has been guided by the pastor’s conviction that intercultural work is an expression of Christian unity.

At the third meeting of the Bologna Interreligious Round Table on Religion and Violence against Women, held 2 May, participants worked with the theme: “Do the churches move? Do men move?”

The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID) of the Vatican and the Office of Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation of the WCC met in Geneva from 16-18 April. Staff from the two offices united in prayer, fellowship and joint work on a document titled “Education for Peace in a Multi-Religious World”.

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.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is mourning the death and remembering the life of Daniela Di Mauro. Her sudden death is a shock and tragic loss for her family, colleagues and friends.

An international ecumenical study meeting on xenophobia and populism took place in Rome from 13-15 December. The gathering was jointly hosted by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development in collaboration with the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Among its goals was the planning of a world conference on these issues, to be held from 22 to 23 May next year.

An “Interfaith Symposium on Statelessness” held 7-8 December in Rome focused, for the first time in history, on joint actions from Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Christian and Jewish groups to address statelessness.

A consultation with the theme “Ecumenical Perspective on the Role of Women in the Churches” brought together 28 women and men to the Monastero di Bose in northern Italy from 3-7 October.

Borders – physical, political, attitudinal – which deny people their human rights, dignity and life are counter to the gospel which calls us to protect and welcome migrants and refugees. This was the recurring theme of an international conference on migration and reception, “Living and Witnessing the Border”, held 30 September – 2 October in Palermo.

Not nearly enough is being done to save the lives of the 20 million people who face famine in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and Nigeria. Among them are 1.4 million children, who are at imminent risk of death unless aid reaches them immediately.

An Ecumenical Week promoted by the Focolare Movement is being held 9-13 May at Castel Gandolfo, Rome. Some 700 Christians from 70 churches and ecclesial communities are participating in the meeting, which is titled “Walking together. Christians on the road to unity.” In a greeting to the conference participants, World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit noted that the theme of the Focolare conference resonates well with the framework for WCC’s current work, the pilgrimage of justice and peace.

“We have re-discovered that we were one church before and have, indeed, a great common heritage.” These are the words of Rev. Dr Martin Robra, World Council of Churches (WCC) programme executive for Ecumenical Continuing Formation, as he spoke at a Focolare ecumenical meeting entitled: “Walking together. Christians on the road to unity.”

Protecting human freedom and dignity is a vital contribution to peace-building by religious communities, said Ecumenical Patriarch His All-Holiness Bartholomew I as he spoke at the Al-Azhar International Peace Conference on 27-28 April in Egypt.

The Ecumenical Patriarch, His All Holiness Bartholomew I, delivered a public address at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva on 24 April as part of his official visit to Switzerland on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of his enthronement as Ecumenical Patriarch and the 50th anniversary of the Orthodox Centre of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambésy.

At a 27 January conference in Rome, Rev. Henrik Grape, coordinator of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Working Group on Climate Change, spoke about how to transform our world to sustainability and, at the same time, fight poverty and hunger without destroying the environment.

As another academic term is coming to an end at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute, 35 international students and faculty have visited the Vatican in Rome, to celebrate the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, engage in ecumenical dialogue, and to learn more about a variety of churches’ work towards Christian unity.

The WCC general secretary, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, condemns the latest terrorist attack against people in Istanbul celebrating the New Year.