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The annual meeting of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID) and the World Council of Churches (WCC) was hosted by the WCC at the Ecumenical Centre, Geneva, and at the nearby Chateau de Bossey from 6-7 February.

Under the headline “Free to change” hundreds of Swedes gathered in the sacred cathedral in Gothenburg on 2 February to learn more about international advocacy from a faith and human rights perspective.

A full-day programme arranged by the dioceses of Skara and Gothenburg in cooperation with Church of Sweden’s youth organisation, covered a wide spectrum of pertinent issues facing the ecumenical movement.

Peace education to promote mutual understanding and cooperation between people involving the religious and secular sectors is needed to counter uncertainty fed by radicalization and xenophobia, says a leading human rights advocate.

Ten weeks after Pope Francis visited the WCC in Geneva as “a pilgrim in quest of unity and peace,” church leaders of different churches representing the WCC and the Roman Catholic Church are meeting in Germany this week to continue their task of “walking, praying and working together.”

Roman Catholic and WCC representatives are forging new ways of working together on today’s most pressing issues.

Rev. Dr Hielke Wolters is leaving the WCC after serving for nine years - the last seven years as associate general secretary - but he is not leaving the ecumenical movement to which he has been dedicated since his student days. Officially is he going to retire, but only on the paper. He has many thoughts and plans to realize as he moves back to the Netherlands to serve, in one way or another, the church or the wider ecumenical movement. Wolters said to WCC News with a smile: “I’m open for any suggestion and I know that God will lead me in the right direction when that time comes.”

A refugee aid cooperation initiative backed by Christians, Jews and Muslims backed by the Federal German Government dubbed “Do you know who I am?” ("Weißt du, wer ich bin?") has launched in Berlin.

The leadership and representatives of the World Evangelical Alliance and the WCC met in the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, Switzerland to explore and discuss possible areas of future cooperation.

Muslims are a minority in Norway and a majority in Pakistan. From 12-15 March, these roles changed at a conference hosted by The Church of Pakistan in Lahore, Pakistan.

In an age of religious pluralism and of religious justification of all manner of atrocities, how do religious communities contribute authentically to the public good?

A WCC delegation visited Ireland from 28 November to 1 December to explore how the international ecumenical community may best support churches in the global fellowship and work together on the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace.

A delegation from the WCC went to the Inter Faith Centre at the Dublin City University in the Republic of Ireland as part of the four-day member church visit to Ireland from 28 November to 1 December.

Today 35 bishops and church leaders from 20 countries gathered in Munich, Germany to discuss the refugee situation and the role of the churches in Europe.

Meeting from 17 to 24 June, the newly reconstituted Commission on Faith and Order of the WCC has begun to define its principal trajectories for ecumenical study and common activity from 2015 until the next WCC Assembly in 2020.

More than 250 mission workers and church leaders from around the world gathered in Berlin, Germany, 27 to 28 August, for the Mission Respect congress which reviewed the 2011 document "Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World - Recommendations for Conduct".

Addressing the urgency of witnessing to the gospel in current ecumenical and multi-religious situations, the WCC will develop materials to assist churches engaged in both ecumenical dialogue and inter-religious dialogue.

During 2014 the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey will be holding a number of seminars raising awareness on issues related to women’s concerns, justice and peace, ecology and Christian theology, interfaith relations and migrant churches.