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The World Council of Churches (WCC) has made new staff appointments during 2024, including three new commission directors. WCC general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay warmly greeted them as they began to serve in their particular ministries.

Twenty-four students and seven teachers from the Focolare Movement joined the World Council of Churches (WCC) for Ash Wednesday prayer services, and for an introduction to the ecumenical movement. 

In a visit to Cuba from 17-19 December, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay met with Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel at the Palacio de las Convenciones in Havana. “I was deeply impressed with our heart-to-heart meeting with the president of Cuba,” expressed Pillay.

On 28th August, during a visit with Ambassador Andranik Hovhannisyan, Permanent Mission of the Republic of Armenia to the UN Office, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed solidarity with those making efforts to lift the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh by reopening the Lachin corridor.

The Christians, Jews, and Muslims laughing and chatting together, learning about peace were not in an aspirational story; they are authentic, live young people having fun at the Emerging Peacemakers Forum.

On 17 May 2023 in Moscow, a WCC delegation consisting of general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay, director for International Affairs Mr Peter Prove, and programme executive for Ecumenical Relations and Faith and Order Dr Vasile-Octavian Mihoc met with His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

After postponing their unique ecumenical pilgrimage of peace to South Sudan, world Christian leaders will travel to the world’s youngest nation in February.

Peace prayers and a concert in South Korea on 27 July marked the lead-up to World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly while expressing the fervent hope for the reunification of the Korean Peninsula.

A new “Local Changemakers Course” is being released by the Freedom of Religion or Belief Learning Platform to help empower local communities in their fight for human rights, particularly freedom of religion or belief.

A new volume of “Christian Witness in a Multi Religious World” was released in a special event celebrating the 10th anniversary of the original publication.

To accompany the churches and people of Sudan in the midst of significant changes and challenges in the country, a delegation of World Council of Churches (WCC) along with its ecumenical partners is undertaking an ecumenical solidarity visit to Sudan.

Easter for Christians, Passover for Jews, and Ramadan for Muslims coincided on the weekend of 15-17 April this year. Still, violence in the holy city of Jerusalem shared by the three faiths was a reminder of the fragility of their relationships.

Following an 11 April statement of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem expressing grave concerns over announced police restrictions on Holy Fire Saturday, the World Council of Churches (WCC) strongly condemned such measures restricting access to places of worship as violations of religious freedom in the Holy Land.

On the UN International Day of  Conscience, 5 April, the World Council of Churches (WCC) releases a new volume of “I Belong – Biblical Reflections on Statelessness”. The day highlights the need for the creation of conditions of stability, peaceful coexistence, respect for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, language or religion.

A “human chain” singing for peace and a new hymn by Swedish composer and pastor Per Harling are just two of many creative ways people are expressing their yearning for peace.