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The new surge in COVID-19 related hospitalizations and deaths has drastically increased the need for pastoral care almost everywhere. Brazil and Great Britain are two hard-hit countries, where the pandemic has brought existential questions on the table.  

The brutal killing of Joao Alberto Silveira Freitas, 40, a black man, at the hands of two white security guards outside a supermarket in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on 19 November, the eve of National Black Consciousness Day, has sparked outrage across the country. World Council of Churches (WCC) member churches raised their voices to condemn the killing and to express deep concern regarding systemic racial injustice in Brazil.

God’s creation groans in the Amazon forest, a sacred space for 34 million people suffering from the growth of inequality, land invasion, extractivism, relaxation of environmental laws, criminalization and murder of its defenders, and arson orchestrated by agribusiness—all of it made worse by proselytizing.

Economist Thomas Kang is a member of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

As coronavirus cases rise sharply in Latin American countries, so has violence against women.

One of the main voices of the Brazilian and Latin American ecumenical movement, Jether Pereira Ramalho passed away on 28 June, in Rio, leaving behind a legacy of inspiration, dedication and transformation to many generations.

As Brazilians face harder times on a daily basis with the increasing impacts of COVID-19 at all levels of society, several church-based organizations launched a campaign on 11 June calling on people to express solidarity with all who have lost family members and friends due to the pandemic and its systemic consequences in a reality marked by inequality, such as hunger, violence, and racism.

Norwegian churches added their voice to the chorus of concern for the people of the Amazon as the coronavirus increasingly spreads. In a letter to the Brazilian embassy, the Church of Norway and the Roman Catholic Church in Norway jointly expressed deep solidarity with the people of Brazil.

In a time when Brazil has been the arena of somehow conflicting narratives on how to face the COVID-19 pandemic, World Council of Churches (WCC) member churches have been active in supporting health authorities such as the World Health Organization in their efforts to advise people to be away from agglomerations that could increase transmission of the virus.

Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), received former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva, at the Ecumenical Centre on 6 March, in Geneva, Switzerland.

Helena Taliberti and Vagner Diniz, two very committed Brazilian parents with a passion for life and justice, want to feel connected to the world. “We came here because we are sure that the World Council of Churches (WCC) has a lot of connections,” they said. “The more we are together, the longer and farther we will go. Life is the most precious thing that we have.” The couple lost their children in a dam collapse in Brazil in January. WCC News met with them after a meeting with the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit in Geneva in early October.

This is the fourth in a series of interviews with Thursdays in Black ambassadors who are playing a vital role in increasing the impact of our collective call for a world without rape and violence. Larissa Aguiar Garcia, from Igreja Metodista do Brasil, is a member of the World Council of Churches (WCC) ECHOS Commission for young people.

Fires in the Amazon region must be addressed as a national and international crisis, states general secretary of the World Council of Churches Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.

As igrejas do Brasil precisam trabalhar mais unidas do que nunca para enfrentar a cultura da violência e as questões ambientais do país. Esta foi a mensagem dos participantes de uma mesa redonda ecumênica sobre o Brasil convocada pelo Conselho Mundial de Igrejas (CMI) em Genebra no dia 26 de agosto.

On 18-22 March, the World Council of Churches (WCC) Faith and Order Commission gathered at Faculdade Unida de Vitoria in Brazil for a consultation entitled “Towards a Global Vision of the Church”.

One month after a dam near an iron ore mine in Brumadinho, Brazil, burst its barrier, flooding another dam down below, churches have been actively working in the area, comforting hundreds of families in grief and joining hands with the public agents who are offering humanitarian relief to the people in the region.

A global faith-based movement, the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative, has been strengthening its communication and creating country programs in an ongoing effort to inspire people, appeal to their core values, and make an ethical case for urgent and concerted action to protect rainforests.