World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay, on behalf of the global fellowship, expressed grave concern regarding the recent escalation of violence in the Middle East following the first direct confrontation between Iran and Israel.
Our series of interviews with Thursdays in Black ambassadors highlights those who are playing a vital role in increasing the impact of our collective call for a world without rape and violence. Rev. Sally Azar is a pastor at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, and currently serves as a pastor in Jerusalem for both Arabic and English-speaking congregations.
Israeli president Isaac Herzog formally received World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay on 20 February, to discuss the current situation in Israel and Palestine, and the war in Gaza.
World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay met with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, West Bank, on 19 February, urging an end to the “seemingly endless cycle of violence and suffering.”
On the 2024 International Day of Human Fraternity, observed 5 February, special events—including the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity—focused on bridging divides and promoting a culture of peace.
As a year of exceptional and increasing conflict draws to a close, and as we pray for peace for all in 2024, “that prospect seems nowhere more remote than for the suffering and traumatized people of Gaza,” said World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is condemning an attack on one of the buildings within the compound of the St Porphyrios Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza. The building—affiliated with the church, which is one the oldest churches in Gaza—has collapsed in the explosion, caused by Israeli missile strikes, according to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate.
Church leaders in the Holy Land are raising their voices in unity to call for the cessation of all violent and military activities that bring harm to both Palestinian and Israeli civilians.
Iranian rector Ayatollah M. Seyyed Abolhassan Nawab and Ms Zahra Sedigh, from the Iranian Mission to the UN,visited the World Council of Churches (WCC) on 27 July, discussing education and formation, as well as the importance of strengthening the role of interreligious cooperation.
During an ecumenical morning prayer held 15 May, the World Council of Churches (WCC) staff and partners observed the UN International Day of Living Together in Peace, holding in prayer many nations across the world facing challenges to living together in harmony.
The Joint Working Group for Dialogue between the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue and the Palestinian Commission for Interreligious Dialogue met in Rome on 8-9 March.
Vertreterinnen und Vertreter verschiedener religiöser und ethnischer Bevölkerungsgruppen des Irak, die sich in Bagdad unter der Überschrift „Zusammenleben“ versammelten, haben sich am 7. März mit dem Präsidenten des Landes, seiner Exzellenz Dr. Abdullatif Jamal Rashid, getroffen und ihm die Probleme und Herausforderungen dargelegt, die sich ihrer Ansicht nach im Zusammenhang mit religiöser und ethnischer Vielfalt im Irak stellen.
Am 6. März fand in Bagdad die erste „Zusammenleben“-Konsultation statt, und Leitende zahlreicher religiöser und ethnischer Gemeinschaften aus dem Irak feierten hier gemeinsam die Vielfalt, sprachen aber gleichzeitig auch ganz offen über die Probleme einer inklusiven Staatsbürgerschaft. Zu den weiteren Teilnehmenden gehörten Vertreterinnen und Vertreter irakischer Exekutiv- und Legislativbehörden sowie Vertreterinnen und Vertreter von UN- Agenturen und Botschaften.
On 7 March, participants of the “Living Together” meeting in Bagdad representing various religious and ethnic groups of the country met with the president of Iraq His Excellency Dr. Abdullatif Jamal Rashid, presenting their concerns and challenges for religious and ethnic diversity in Iraq.
As a “Living Together” celebration in Bagdad opened on 6 March, religious and ethnic leaders from Iraq celebrated diversity and, at the same time, candidly addressed challenges to inclusive citizenship. They were joined by representatives of Iraqi executive and legislative authorities as well as representatives from UN agencies and embassies.
In 1919, three Armenian families—the Balian, Karakeshian, and Ohanessian families—were brought to Jerusalem by Sir Ronald Henry Amherst Storrs, then military governor of Jerusalem, to renovate the 16th century tiles at the Dome of the Rock in Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Convening for a 10th round of dialogue, the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue met at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute from 4-8 December, sharing their mutual visions for justice and peace in Iran.
From the gateway to the eastern Mediterranean and its pearl, Beirut, an ecumenical delegation came to the Middle East in order to visit spiritual leaders who historically constituted the pillars of ecumenical work.
In a bridge-building visit to member churches in Lebanon, a World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation visited Beirut on 7 July, meeting with church leaders as well as the Middle East Council of Churches to hear and carry a message for the upcoming WCC 11th Assembly, to be held in Karlsruhe, Germany from 31 August-8 September.
In a public statement focused on the Holy Land, the WCC central committee expressed “deep solidarity with the member churches and Christians of the region in their life and work, keeping the Christian faith and witness in the Holy Land alive and vibrant, as well as with all people in the region.”