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Expressing concern regarding recently announced US measures related to refugee admissions and entry into the US by seven Muslim-majority countries, the World Council of Churches (WCC), ACT Alliance (ACT), and The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) affirmed that faith calls all Christians to love and welcome the stranger, the refugee, the internally displaced person - “the other.”

Expresando su preocupación ante las medidas recientemente anunciadas por el gobierno estadounidense en relación con la admisión de refugiados y la entrada en EE. UU. de los ciudadanos de siete países de mayoría musulmana, el Consejo Mundial de Iglesias, ACT Alianza y la Federación Luterana Mundial afirman que nuestra fe nos insta a todos los cristianos, a amar y acoger al extranjero, al refugiado, al desplazado interno: al “otro”.

Le Conseil œcuménique des Églises (COE), ACT Alliance (ACT) et la Fédération luthérienne mondiale (FLM) ont fait savoir leur préoccupation à propos des mesures américaines récentes relatives à l’accueil et à l’entrée aux États-Unis des réfugiés en provenance de sept pays à majorité musulmane. Ces organisations ont déclaré que la foi appelle les chrétiens à aimer et à accueillir l’étranger, le réfugié, les personnes déplacées, autrement dit : « l’autre ».

Canadian Lutheran World Relief and the WCC are planning joint action on refugee rights now that the Canadian church agency has been approved for WCC membership. Plans are for CLWR to collaborate with WCC on advocacy initiatives through the Ecumenical United Nations Office in New York.

The Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC), at its meeting in Trondheim, Norway, 27 June 2016, has elected a new executive committee with 11 new members.

In the Washington DC region on 18 April, Jim Winkler, general secretary of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, welcomed a contingent from the WCC who, with others, will be spending 18-25 April on a WCC-sponsored racial justice listening and support visit to several US communities which have suffered violent incidents related to race.

The Racial Justice Accompaniment Visit to the USA is a continuation of the WCC’s long history of racial justice work. As part of the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace, the WCC wishes to listen to and express support for people and churches in the USA, and to encourage the efforts of member churches and ecumenical partners in the US, as well as other justice-seeking movements on these issues.

The ecumenical movement is mourning the passing on 27 December in Thiruvananthapuram, India of His Eminence the Rt Rev. Dr Zacharias Mar Theophilus, Suffragan Metropolitan of the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church.

In the midst of a mounting climate of fear of refugees and immigrants, the WCC is calling on Christians to be true to the Biblical imperative to “welcome the stranger”.

US President Barack Obama has named Dr Ulysses Burley III to a presidential advisory panel on HIV and AIDS.

The WCC remembers today, 24 April, the 1.5 million Armenian victims – children, women and men – who died 100 years ago.

The prospect of armed robots taking human lives, and whether to ban autonomous weapons before they are made, concentrated the minds of governmental and non-governmental delegates at a United Nations forum in Geneva in mid-April.

A court decision in the Dominican Republic annulling the citizenship of an estimated 200,000 Dominicans of Haitian ancestry has been strongly criticized by church leaders, including the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.

Ferguson is in turmoil. So is New York. And so is Union Theological Seminary in the city of New York, a long-standing institution of theological education located on the upper west side of Manhattan – or in West Harlem – since 1836.

A gender advisory group representing member churches of the WCC has begun working by developing procedures and policies to help the WCC in accomplishing gender justice in institutions, communities and societies – an objective lying at the core of its vision of a “pilgrimage of gender justice”.

The WCC Executive Committee has expressed deep concern over recent developments in the United States following the Grand Jury’s decision not to indict officer Darren Wilson in the killing of Michael Brown.

Invoking prayers for creation, eco-justice and peace with the earth, Time for Creation, a Christian global event, is observed worldwide by many member churches of the WCC. This year, the Council has invited a focus on the theme “pilgrimage of justice and peace” – a call issued by the WCC 10th Assembly in Busan, Republic of Korea in 2013.

When Dr Ulysses Burley III visited Palestine and Israel six months ago, he came away with an even stronger determination to work for social justice, wherever and however he can.

Churches in the United States, including member churches of the WCC, have called on the Obama administration to open up a high-level dialogue with Cuba aimed at normalizing relations between the two countries.

Lent, a season for prayers and reflections by Christians around the world, has become an opportunity for the churches to respond to climate change, an issue which deeply impacts the communities they serve.