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As part of an ongoing, multiyear project called “Walking Together,” an international and interreligious group met in Nicosia, Cyprus, from 6-8 December to explore different facets of the theme “Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace,” which undergirds the World Council of Church’s programmatic focus.

At the close of the 50th year since promulgation of Vatican II’s declaration on Christian relations with other religions, relations between Christians and Jews, and between Christians and Muslims, are freshly explored in the just-released issue of Current Dialogue.

Religion is often manipulated by groups who fuel divisions between people of different faiths, said Adama Dieng, special adviser of the UN secretary-general on the prevention of genocide at a 23-25 November Global Summit on Religion, Peace and Security.

A 50-year-old religious text can shape interreligious relationships crucial for peace-building today, found participants in a workshop organized by the WCC and attended by guests from the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID) on 28 October.

The role of religions in promoting peace and countering violence was discussed during a two-day dialogue between the Muslim Council of Elders and the WCC in Geneva, Switzerland from 30 September to 1 October. Two sessions of talks, hosted by the WCC, involved presentations and discussions on key aspects of peacebuilding and interreligious dialogue, paying special attention to combating religious extremism leading to violence in many parts of the world.

Interreligious dialogue and cooperation provided the basis of talks on 30 September and 1 October 2016 addressing the theme “Towards an Integrated World,” a series of high-level discussions among the Muslim Council of Elders led by the Grand-Imam of Al-Azhar, based in Cairo, and representatives of the World Council of Churches (WCC), its member churches and ecumenical partners including the Lutheran World Federation.

The grand imam of Cairo’s prestigious Al-Azhar mosque and university is to visit the World Council of Churches (WCC) to give a public lecture and participate in high-level consultations on interreligious peacemaking.

Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Christian and Buddhist religious leaders met this week in Assisi to discuss peace, while across the ocean in New York City global political leaders assembled at the United Nations also focussed on a troubled world.

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

“I have an absolute confidence in your youthful and great enthusiasm and your heightened state of awareness that you will be ambassadors of peace, mercy and cooperation among all peoples.” This message, from Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Dr Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, visibly uplifted and inspired young people attending a seminar, “Youth Engagement, Religion and Violence,” in Cairo this week.

On a sunny, hot afternoon on the grounds of the 18th-century Château de Bossey, 17 young people from across the world gathered for their graduation ceremony in the Certificate of Advanced Studies in Interreligious Studies from the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey.

PROCMURA (Programme for Christian-Muslim Relations in Africa), an ecumenical Christian organization that focuses on strengthening Christian-Muslim relations at all levels, dedicated a new central office and conference centre on 2 July in Nairobi, Kenya.

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.”

WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit condemns the terrorist attack claimed by so-called Islamic State that took place in Kabul on Saturday 23 July, apparently directed against a demonstration organised by the Hazara community of Afghanistan. The death toll has reached at least 80, with several hundreds injured. The casualities include a number of members of the Afghan security forces who were seeking to protect the demonstration.

From Paris to Pakistan, Orlando to Myanmar, Iraq to Nigeria, each day witnesses conflict and violence perpetrated in the name of religion or committed against persons because of their religious identity.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) Round Table was held on 26 and 27 May in the picturesque setting of the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey near Geneva in Switzerland. The gathering was used as always by the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit as a platform for high-level consultation with heads of agencies.

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.

Nearly 30 young ecumenical leaders from 14 Asian countries gathered at the Jakarta Theological Seminary in Indonesia for the third Youth in Asia Training Programme for Religious Amity (YATRA). Jointly organised by the World Council of Churches, Jakarta Theological Seminary and Communion of Christian Churches in Asia, the 2-week training will facilitate learning on the theme “Religion and Public Space” from an interreligious perspective.

In the old city of Acre, which is located by the Mediterranean sea in northern Israel, almost all Palestinian families are displaced. Poverty, discrimination and lack of motivation for education are some of the daily obstacles people face.

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.