In an annual audience during the ongoing Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Bishop Bo-Göran Åstrand of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland gifted a pair of gloves to Pope Francis, described as “a modest gift, to warm the Pope’s hands in an otherwise cold world.”
The World Council of Churches (WCC) congratulated Danish Bishop Henrik Stubkjær, who was newly elected as the next Lutheran World Federation president.
In a visit to Rome, a World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation met with organizations that, as WCC general secretary Jerry Pillay said, “keep the fire of ecumenism burning.”
During a visit with Pope Francis in Rome on 23 March, a World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation and the Roman Catholic Church committed to walking, praying. and working together for justice, reconciliation, and unity.
In an interview taped during the World Council of Churches 11th Assembly, Prof. Riccardo Burigana, director of the Centre for Ecumenical Studies in Italy, shares how excited he is to offer a new Bibliography on Ecumenism for free online as a tool for students, scholars, and researchers around the world.
Rich examples of the work promoted by member churches of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Italy in assisting refugees and migrants, have been the highlight of the first days of WCC delegation visit to the region this week.
The majority of the initiatives visited are led by women.
Leaders from Nordic churches—including the Church of Sweden and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark—met with World Council of Churches (WCC) leadership and staff on 28 April, discussing preparations for the WCC 11th Assembly as well as directions for the next decade.
Alexander Vozhdaev, from the Russian Orthodox Church, participated in a study visit to Rome 20-27 January as part of pursuing a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Ecumenical Studies at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute.
Rev. Emma Jansson, from the Church of Sweden, participated in a study visit to Rome 20-27 January as part of pursuing a Complementary Certificate in Ecumenical Studies at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute.
Carolina Zamorano, from the Methodist Church of Mexico, participated in a study visit to Rome 20-27 January, as part of pursuing a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Ecumenical Studies at Bossey Ecumenical Institute.
Bernard Mushi, from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, participated in a study visit to Rome 20-27 January, as part of pursuing a Complementary Certificate in Ecumenical Studies at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute.
On 20 January, World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca will serve as a panelist for “Ecumenism in a Time of Pandemic: From Crisis to Opportunity.”
World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca shared joyful greetings to the Taizé European Youth Encounter as young people self-reflected, prayed, met each other, and together faced the needs of our times.
Meeting with Pope Francis in the Vatican on 25 June, both the Lutheran World Federation president Archbishop Dr Panti Filibus Musa and Pope Francis expressed the hope that the 500th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession in 2030 can become common ground on which to strengthen the commitment of Lutherans and Catholics to unity and reconciliation.
In a lecture at the Institute for Ecumenical Studies at St Thomas Aquinas Pontifical University (Angelicum) on 13 December, World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit offered a lecture entitled "Ut Unum Sint: Between Winter and Spring, Reality and Prophecy, 1995 – 2020.”
"The best thought is one that always leaves a certain crevice for the possibility that everything is totally different at the same time" - Rev. Martina Viktorie Kopecka, moderator of the World Council of Churches ECHOS Commission, cites this as her favorite quote from Václav Havel, opponent to Czechoslovak’s communist regime and later president of his country.
Among the many international guests at the Heavenly Days on the Heath, which unfolded during the Ascension holidays in Herning in Denmark, was Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches.
Twenty-nine students from the WCC Bossey Ecumenical Institute traveled to Rome for the annual study visit to the Vatican, and to take part in the inauguration of the 2019 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which is observed 18-25 January.
Rev. Martina V. Kopecká of the Czechoslovak Hussite Church represented the World Council of Churches at a Synod of Bishops (XV Ordinary General Assembly) which met in Rome under the theme “Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment.”
