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Church leaders from Syria, Russia, the United States and European nations have called a political solution the only way towards peace in Syria. This stance was shared in a communique they issued following their meeting with Kofi Annan, former United Nations general secretary, and Lakhdar Brahimi, UN-Arab League joint representative for Syria.

A three-day WCC consultation has featured diverse perspectives from Asia, Africa, Middle East and Europe on the politicization of religion and how this phenomenon contributes to discrimination and persecution of religious minorities around the world.

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.”

The spectre of chemical weapons recently used in the conflict in Syria against civilians has raised international alarms, led to calls for an investigation and met with strong condemnation from the WCC general secretary, who called on the United Nations to fulfil its responsibility to protect the Syrian people from gross human rights violations.

The WCC general secretary has issued a statement on recent violence in Syria targeting religious communities.

A WCC conference has issued a joint statement calling the churches and ecumenical actors to commit themselves to support one another in prayers and actions to support Christian presence and witness in the Middle East.

In an international conference on the situation of Christians in the Middle East, the WCC general secretary highlighted the significance of the cross as a symbol of hope for the global church in solidarity with Christians in the Arab world.

With rapidly changing political and social landscapes in the Middle East, church leaders have come together to strengthen pro-active Christian witness in the region.

For the first time in their history, the patriarch of the Antiochian Orthodox Church has asked the believers to adorn the traditional Palm Sunday processions with black ribbons tied on candles rather than the usual white ribbons expressing their sadness because of the two abducted church leaders from Aleppo, Syria.

Two Christian bishops from Aleppo, Syria, were supported in prayer at a special service in the chapel of the Ecumenical Centre, home of the World Council of Churches, in Geneva on Thursday, 25 April.

As the uncertainty of the whereabouts of two Syrian church leaders kidnapped in Syria on Monday continued Wednesday, the patriarchs of the Greek Orthodox and Syriac Orthodox churches have issued a joint communique calling on churches around the world to “stand fast in the face of what is going on and witness to their faith in the power of love in this world.”

The World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, has strongly condemned the abduction of two Syrian archbishops who were kidnapped yesterday near Aleppo in Syria.

Describing dramatic consequences of the Syrian civil war, Bishop Elia Toumeh of Marmarita said that when the difficulties pass, Christians must play a constructive role in the reconciliation of opposing factions for a new Syrian society.

How does the church interact with a rapidly changing society? On 31 August, members of the World Council of Churches Central Committee spent much of the morning discussing this question in a pair of plenary sessions in Geneva.