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The World Council of Churches (WCC) has condemned as “cruel and despicable” the actions of those responsible for the lethal blast on the St Petersburg metro that killed 14 people and injured at least 49, calling for prayers for the victims and their close ones.

As the Bossey Ecumenical Institute marks 70 years of ecumenical formation, hundreds of current and former students, professors, partners and friends have gathered at the Château du Bossey for days highlighting the work of the institute and the role it has had and continues to play in the ecumenical movement.

Increasingly, the unity of the church is threatened by different positions on moral issues. In response to this, the Faith and Order Commission of the WCC continues to study how churches arrive at the ethical decisions they make.

Two officials of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church have been visiting the WCC Central Committee during its June 2016 meeting in Trondheim, Norway, reporting on the day-to-day challenges of spiritual life amid social tensions and national strife.

The WCC general secretary issued a statement urging the international community to put an end to the “culture of impunity” in Syria. The statement comes on the heels of news reports from Syria of an air strike that targeted the Kammouneh Syrian refugee camp, killing at least 28 people and severely injuring dozens of others.

Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), has issued a statement on behalf of the Council hailing the historic meeting of Pope Francis, pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, and Patriarch Kirill, primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.The two leaders met on 12 February in Havana, Cuba.

The Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe and the WCC have published a revised and updated edition of their joint study, Mapping Migration: Mapping Churches’ Responses in Europe. The 2016 text explores challenges and changes in the European church landscape in light of international migration.

“I write in a moment of great sadness, extending my deep and heartfelt condolences for all those who died in the tragic airplane crash occurring in the Sinai desert in the early morning of October 31,” wrote WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit in a letter of condolence addressed to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.

Ecumenical efforts led by the WCC continue to encourage peace in Ukraine, where a fragile cease-fire is daily tested by violence in the eastern part of the country.

The WCC remembers today, 24 April, the 1.5 million Armenian victims – children, women and men – who died 100 years ago.

The Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), discussed the churches and peacemaking challenges during a meeting in Moscow 22 April with Patriarch Kirill, primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, and with Metropolitan Hilarion, chair of the Russian Orthodox Church’s department of external church relations. This is their second visit in the past year. There were two issues on the agenda: violence against Christian minorities and Ukraine.

The world is giving itself a kind of Christmas gift this year, a serious gift and one that is long-overdue. On 24 December 2014 an international law to regulate the global trade in armaments and ammunition enters into force.

A WCC representative joined a representative of the Moscow Patriarch to visit churches in Ukraine and to encourage efforts toward peace there.

The Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit discussed the churches and peacemaking challenges in Moscow with Patriarch Kirill, primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, and with Metropolitan Hilarion, chair of the Russian Orthodox Church’s department of external church relations.

A reflection on the recent United Nations meeting on the Non-Proliferation Treaty, by Jonathan Frerichs, WCC programme executive for peace building and disarmament, and member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

While condemning all use of chemical weapons in Syria, the WCC general secretary said that “we must do everything possible to starve the fire of war rather than feeding it with further deadly armaments.”