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On behalf of the World Council of Churches, I am delighted to send warm greetings to our Jewish friends and colleagues, and indeed to Jewish communities around the world, as you celebrate Rosh HaShanah/Jewish New Year.

Dear Muslim sisters and brothers,

It is a joy to extend cordial greetings to Muslims around the world on behalf of the World Council Churches (WCC) as you have been observing the month of Ramadan and as you will celebrate Eid al-Fitr by the end of this week. May this be a blessed season for you.

Applications are open for a Young Adults Training for Religious Amity program (YATRA) to be held in October.

World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca shared greetings with Buddhist communities as they celebrated Vesakh.

World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca shared heartfelt greetings with Muslim communities around the world for the last days of the observance of Ramadan and the celebration on 2 May of Eid al-Fitr.

World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca sent greetings to Jewish people across the world as they celebrate Passover.

In a letter, World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca sent greetings to Hindu communities celebrating the festival of Diwali.

World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca conveyed greetings, along with a sense of concern, to the WCC’s Muslim colleagues and partners around the world as they observe Eid al-Fitr.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID) released a joint document, “Serving a Wounded World in Interreligious Solidarity: A Christian Call to Reflection and Action During COVID-19 and Beyond.” Its purpose is to encourage churches and Christian organizations to reflect on the importance of interreligious solidarity in a world wounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. The document offers a Christian basis for interreligious solidarity that can inspire and confirm the impulse to serve a world wounded not only by COVID-19 but also by many other wounds.

Geneva, 11 July, 2020: In a letter to H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of the Republic of Turkey, WCC interim general secretary Rev. Prof Dr Ioan Sauca is expressing his fervent hope and prayer that Hagia Sophia will not become once again a focus of confrontation and conflict, but will be restored to the emblematic unifying role that it has served since 1934. Read the full letter:

On behalf of the World Council of Churches (WCC), WCC acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca sent warm greetings to all Muslims around the world celebrating Eid al-Fitr.

In a letter to Buddhist friends, World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca sent cordial greetings of peace and joy for Vesak.

As the worldwide Muslim community celebrates the feast of Eid Al Fitr this week, World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit offered written greetings of peace.

The story of the prophet Jonah tells us about a tortuous road of a call to conversion and about God’s infinite mercy both towards the reluctant prophet and towards “the great city in which there are more than a hundred twenty thousand persons … and a large number of animals” (Jonah 4:11).

On Vesakh - a day commemorating the life and legacy of Gautama Buddha - WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit extended his greetings to Buddhists across the world.

The story of Jonah is about the compassionate God whose mercy has no geographical, cultural, political, and economic frontier. The dialogue between God and Jonah (Jonah 4:1-11), which is considered the climax of the Book of Jonah, is an invitation to overcome intolerance and to cultivate compassion. The dialogue consists of two main parts: the anger of Jonah (v. 1-5) and the compassion of God (v. 6-11). In the dialogue, Jonah becomes angry, but God responds to him with two questions: “Is it good for you to be angry?” (v. 4) and “Is it good for you to be angry about the plant?” (v. 9) which indicate the limitless and universal mercy of God. In this way, the story of Jonah invites us to the pilgrimage of tolerance and compassion.

The journey of the disciples to Emmaus in Luke 24 is not a pilgrimage toward Jerusalem but leaving it disillusionment. It is a journey of finding our hearts burning as the disciples of Emmaus’s hearts were burning at the moment of sharing a meal. The text invites us to find our own Emmaus where our heart to be kindled. Each of us meets unknown pilgrims who hide an unknown Jesus, but especially meets and encounters him- or herself, discovers that that he or she has a heart that hopes, eyes to see and ears to listen, and finds him- or herself in full solidarity with every human being. The story speaks about three places in which we meet the Risen Christ: scripture, eucharist, and community. It is a pilgrimage of hope and of expectation by listening to the Word, breaking the bread, and hearing the voice of the other because everyone is created in God’s image.

On Vesakh - a day commemorating the life and legacy of Gautama Buddha - WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit extended his greetings to Buddhists across the world.

Greetings of peace and prosperity to Hindus on the occasion of Diwali.