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Vandalism targeting churches, cemeteries, and Christian properties in addition to physical and verbal abuse against Christian clergy have increased in the past months in the Holy Land, amid ongoing political tensions within Israeli society.

A parliamentarian from the UAE has cautioned a group of young Christian, Jewish, and Muslim peacemakers that terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda and the Islamic State have shown proficiency in using social media to attain their goals.

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.

World Council of Churches central committee moderator Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm delivered a lecture at the Kitzingen deanery, a regional church district near Würzburg, for the parishes of the deanery as well as for the public. The lecture, entitled “Just Peace through Military Force? Peace Ethical Considerations in Light of the War of Aggression against Ukraine,” was offered on 29 April

The World Council of Churches joined other global and regional groups in delivering to the UN an interfaith statement in support of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots.

In a statement commemorating the Palestinians on the 75th anniversary of the “Al-Nakba,” the Council of Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem reiterates the churches’ call to strive for a just and lasting peace for in the Holy Land.

In a pastoral letter to the churches of South Sudan and to Norwegian Church Aid, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed shock and sadness about the news of an attack on Norwegian Church Aid vehicles in Imehejek, Lopa Lafon, in the Eastern Equatoria region of South Sudan.

Church leaders in Papua, in a position statement directed toward government officials, said “the current situation is a human tragedy,” expressed grave concern about extrajudicial killings and other violence, and called for immediate measures for a sustainable peace.

The Middle East Council of Churches announced that the 22 April each year—the day of the kidnapping of the two Archbishops of Aleppo, Metropolitan Boulos Yaziji and Metropolitan Gregorios Youhanna Ibrahim— will be named “The Ecumenical Day for the Abducted and the Forcibly Absented.”

Through a biennial award, churches in Africa are moving to recognize individuals or organizations who show progressive and tangible faith-based leadership in the fields of human rights, good governance, and the rule of law. 

Rev. Sally Azar, of the Lutheran Church in the Holy Land, met with ecumenical accompaniers from Ecuador, Finland, and Norway at the Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem’s Old City on 3 March.

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.