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More than 40 religious leaders from Iraq gathered in Beirut, Lebanon under the auspices of the World Council of Churches for three days of constructive interfaith dialogue to identify and analyse opportunities and challenges related to cohesion and highlight the role of religious leaders in re-storing inclusive multi-religious and multi-cultural communities in Iraq after years of conflict.

More than 3,000 peacemakers from all over the world were gathered in Oslo on 10 December to commemorate the work of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapon’s (ICAN) work with banners with slogans such as: "The world must sign UN nuclear ban."

The WCC Executive Committee met in Amman, Jordan from 17-23 November to approve the 2018 plan and budget and prepare for renewal of the WCC strategic plan. The Executive Committee also discerned the way forward for the WCC’s involvement in Palestine and Israel by learning more about the particular situation in Jordan and the Middle East, then discussing the challenges of the churches and the WCC response. The Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem, All Palestine and Jordan, Theophilos III, welcomed the group.

Le Comité exécutif du Conseil œcuménique des Églises (COE) s'est réuni à Amman, en Jordanie, du 17 au 23 novembre pour approuver la planification et le budget pour 2018 et pour préparer le renouvellement du plan stratégique du COE. Le Comité exécutif a également déterminé la voie à suivre en termes d'implication du COE pour la justice et la paix en Palestine et Israël. Il s'est pour cela informé de la situation particulière en Jordanie et au Proche-Orient, puis a abordé la question des défis des Églises et de l'action du COE. Le patriarche de la ville sainte de Jérusalem, de toute la Palestine et de Jordanie, Theophilos III, a accueilli le groupe.

His Eminence Dr Mohammad bin Abdul Karim Al-Issa, general secretary of the Muslim World League visited the World Council of Churches (WCC) in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland on 9 November, where he discussed with WCC leaders both the meaning and importance of “just peace.”

Preaching at the Old Church of Helsinki on 27 September, WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit congratulated Finn Church Aid on the occasion of its 70th anniversary, reflecting on the important calling the organization fulfils in stilling hunger and thirst among people in need, not only in a local context, but worldwide.

In the wake of new sanctions on North Korea that could reduce the country’s annual export revenues by one third, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit expressed concern over whether those sanctions demonstrate any positive impact in bringing a return to negotiations or preventing its development of nuclear weapons.

Au lendemain de nouvelles sanctions contre la Corée du Nord qui pourraient réduire d’un tiers les recettes annuelles d’exportation du pays, le pasteur Olav Fykse Tveit, secrétaire général du Conseil œcuménique des Églises (COE), s’inquiète de savoir si ces sanctions auront un effet positif sur la reprise des négociations ou sur la prévention de la mise au point d’armes nucléaires.

Le Conseil œcuménique des Églises (COE) appelle à une journée mondiale de la paix, demain, pour la paix en Terre Sainte et pour le retrait de toutes les barrières d’accès aux lieux de culte.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is calling for global prayers tomorrow for just peace in the Holy Land, and for all barriers to places of worship to be removed.

For Dr Vahid Sohrabifar from Iran’s city of Qom, attending the Certificate of Advanced Studies in Interreligious Studies at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey was inspiring due to the diversity he encountered on the course.

As a WCC-convened forum on peace on the Korean Peninsula came to a close, participants from around the world, representing many churches, vowed to work together in accompanying the Christians of North and South Korea in their efforts for peace, reconciliation, and development.

“In the face of escalating confrontation and heightened risks of catastrophic conflict” on the Korean peninsula, the World Council of Churches has urged that “a paradigm shift in approaches to the resolution of the geopolitical challenges of the region is urgently needed.”

«Au vu de l’escalade de la confrontation et des risques accrus d’un conflit catastrophique» dans la péninsule coréenne, le Conseil œcuménique des Églises exhorte à «changer radicalement d’approche pour résoudre les problèmes géopolitiques de la région».

Protecting human freedom and dignity is a vital contribution to peace-building by religious communities, said Ecumenical Patriarch His All-Holiness Bartholomew I as he spoke at the Al-Azhar International Peace Conference on 27-28 April in Egypt.

En protégeant la liberté et la dignité des individus, les communautés religieuses apportent une contribution capitale à la consolidation de la paix, a déclaré Sa Toute-Sainteté le patriarche œcuménique Bartholomée I, à l’occasion de la Conférence mondiale sur la paix d’al-Azhar qui s’est déroulée les 27 et 28 avril en Égypte.

In a joint communiqué issued on 27 April, delegations from the WCC and the Muslim Council of Elders jointly stressed the importance of valuing diversity, assuring equal rights, and of being able to build mutual relationships with others.

Dans un communiqué conjoint publié le 27 avril, les délégations du Conseil œcuménique des Églises (COE) et du Conseil musulman des aînés (MCE) ont souligné l'importance de mettre en valeur la diversité, de garantir l'égalité des droits et d'établir des relations mutuelles avec les autres.

WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit joined other speakers at a side event of the 34th session of the UN Human Rights Council on 7 March. The speakers, which also included Metropolitan Hilarion, chairman of the Department of External Church Relations for the Russian Orthodox Church, addressed the topic of “Mutual Respect and Peaceful Coexistence as a Condition of Interreligious Peace and Stability: Supporting Christians and Other Communities.”

He earned the title “Green Patriarch” as a religious leader addressing alarming environmental issues over at least two decades. In 2008, Time Magazine named His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew as one of 100 Most Influential People in the World, for “defining environmentalism as spiritual responsibility”.