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Days before the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity begins, many across the world are getting ready by accessing the resources prepared by the Minnesota Council of Churches, based in the USA.

Expressing the profound sadness of the World Council of Churches (WCC) following the announcement by the Holy See of the death of His Holiness Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI today, the WCC acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca stated:

“On behalf of the World Council of Churches, I express our deepest condolences on the passing of late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. He was the first pope to have come from a country, Germany, with a roughly equal balance between Protestants and Catholics, and one that had been at the very centre of the 16th century Reformation.”

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, held 18-25 January, will draw together churches across the globe to “Do good; seek justice (Isaiah 1:17).”

On 29 November, World Council of Churches (WCC) staff held a farewell prayer for staff members who are retiring or moving on to serve elsewhere, including WCC acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca; WCC deputy general secretary Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri; interim deputy general secretary and Faith and Order director Rev. Dr  Odair Pedroso Mateus; Rev. Dr Risto Jukko, director of the WCC Commission on World Mission and Evangelism; Diana Chabloz, assistant to the general secretary; and Marc Enzo Bellingoi, project assistant for the Assembly Office.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is giving thanks for the life and witness of Prof. Richard Schneider (1938-2022), who passed away on 11 November.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee, elected during the WCC 11th Assembly, has concluded its first meeting, held 7-12 November at the Ecumenical Institute Bossey and at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland.

As the study groups of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Faith and Order Commission convened this week, the paper “Towards a Global Vision of the Church Volume I: Explorations on Global Christianity and Ecclesiology” was released.

The study groups of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Faith and Order Commission are convening from 14-16 November at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has appointed Dr Andrej Jeftić as the new director of the Commission on Faith and Order.

In a “Global health and wellbeing” statement, the World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee noted that the terrible experience of COVID-19 awakened us all to the real and continuing threat of pandemics in our hyper-connected and over-exploited world.

The acting general secretary of the World Council of Churches, the Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, has been honoured by the WCC’s Ecumenical Institute at the Chateau de Bossey, where he has served 24 years on its faculty, and been its director since 2001.

The 26th Pentecostal World Conference, is taking place in Seoul, South Korea from 12-14 October, hosted by the Yoido Full Gospel Church, the world’s largest Pentecostal congregation.

At a World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly press conference held 7 September, Anglican, Catholic, and Orthodox voices joined a WCC Faith and Order member to explore the meaning of Christian unity.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly elected eight new presidents, six regional and two from Orthodox churches, in a vote on 5 September with 574 delegates present.

In a process described as, “a journey of walking together, praying together, and working together,” Dr Agnes Abuom, WCC moderator, began the second business plenary with a review of the assembly decision-making process. “The decisions of the assembly are expressed through the final reports of the assembly committees,” she said, noting the distinction between earlier messages and final messages, which are expected to come to assembly next week.

During the recent solidarity visit in Ukraine, a World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation has met with various state institutions working with religious issues, listening and learning from the victims of the ongoing war and asking for support in giving permission to the members of the delegation of Ukrainian Churches to leave the country and attend the WCC 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe. 

Meeting with the delegation of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations appealed to the global fellowship of churches to raise their voices to stop the war of aggression in Ukraine.