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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.”

Almost 30 international students from the WCC's Bossey Ecumenical Institute, Switzerland, are embarking on a future of ecumenism, dialogue and unity that began with months of intense study and fellowship.

What else could your family, your parish, your community do to respond to the needs of migrants and refugees arriving in your country? Representatives of many different churches met in Rome in September to discuss that practical question, as well as respond to the broader challenge of how people of faith can combat the rising tide of racism, xenophobia and nationalist policies that increasingly target vulnerable migrants and asylum seekers.

Pope Francis met on 20 September with leaders of different Christian churches who have been taking part in a Rome meeting on combating racism and xenophobia, saying he hoped their encounter would give rise to many other such shared initiatives.

At a time of increased divisions within churches and within rapidly changing societies, Christians are called, more urgently than ever before, to model the values of reconciliation, justice and peace. That’s why a group of theologians and church leaders from different denominations have been meeting near the German city of Augsburg to work together on two documents calling for much closer collaboration in the tasks of peace-building and the care of migrants and refugees.

Ten weeks after Pope Francis visited the WCC in Geneva as “a pilgrim in quest of unity and peace,” church leaders of different churches representing the WCC and the Roman Catholic Church are meeting in Germany this week to continue their task of “walking, praying and working together.”

Bishop Brian Farrell has been a key figure on the ecumenical scene since his appointment as secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in 2002.
Over that time he has attended most of the major events in the life of the WCC, including the last assembly in South Korea and the recent Conference on World Mission and Evangelism in Tanzania.

The landmark visit of Pope Francis to the World Council of Churches on 21 June will be a centrepiece of the ecumenical commemoration of the WCC's 70th anniversary.

The relationship between the WCC and Chiara Lubich dates back to the time of the Second Vatican Council. On her death, Samuel Kobia paid tribute, saying: “Our love for Chiara and immense gratitude for the gift of God she has been to the ecumenical movement, will continue to motivate and inspire us in our work for the visible unity of the church”.

The Vatican and the World Council of Churches today announced that Pope Francis will visit the WCC this June. The formal announcement took place on 2 March at a joint press conference in the Vatican.

As part of a Pilgrimage Reference Group meeting in Bogota, Colombia from 6-10 February, a WCC delegation visited the headquarters of the Conference of Latin American Bishops (CELAM).

In an audience with Pope Francis in the Vatican, World Council of Churches (WCC) Central Committee moderator Dr Agnes Abuom and WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit discussed how Christian unity is vital in bringing a true sense of justice to issues the world is facing today. The meeting also focused on how deepening relations in the one ecumenical movement.

“What is the role of churches in peace-building? How are they actually involved? Which are the ecumenical challenges, and especially which are the ecumenical opportunities that arise from joint efforts at peace building?” These were some of the questions on the table as the Executive of the Joint Working Group of the WCC and the Roman Catholic Church met in Dublin, Ireland on 24-26 April.

Future collaborative work of the Roman Catholic Church with the WCC was the focus of the latest meeting of executives of their Joint Working Group in Geneva.

Cardinal Kurt Koch of the Roman Catholic Church, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, has granted an interview to WCC News. The conversation took place at the Global Christian Forum in Tirana, Albania where 150 high level leaders and representatives of various church traditions from more than 60 countries gathered to listen and learn from one another and to stand in solidarity with churches and Christians experiencing discrimination and persecution in the world today.

“The WCC is grateful for new momentum in collective efforts to manifest our common faith in God the creator and our commitment to common service,” said the WCC general secretary, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, as he spoke at the 50th anniversary gathering of a joint WCC-Roman Catholic group.

Meeting from 17 to 24 June, the newly reconstituted Commission on Faith and Order of the WCC has begun to define its principal trajectories for ecumenical study and common activity from 2015 until the next WCC Assembly in 2020.