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Churches are expressing solidarity with refugees in Lampedusa, the Italian island on which thousands of migrants arrived last week, overloading local resources.

Bethlehem and its basilica are signs of hope, not just to one community or church, but to the whole human family, His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilus III of Jerusalem and All Palestine told a gathering at the World Council of Churches in Geneva.

As a search continued for missing migrants after a fishing boat capsized off the coast of Greece, the World Council of Churches (WCC) conveyed prayers to the families of victims, and to the churches in Greece and elsewhere that are responding.

For the past 75 years, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has announced how close it believes the world is to a nuclear attack. On 24 January, it has announced that we are only 90 seconds to midnight.

A webinar on 4 November, “Realizing Equal Nationality Rights for All,” shined a light on the challenges facing an estimated 15 million people worldwide who are stateless, meaning no country considers them to be a national by operation of law.

World Council of Churches (WCC) interim general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca expressed grave concern over the renewed and very serious escalation of conflict in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region since Sunday 27 September – reportedly following an attack by Azerbaijan’s military forces – which has already resulted in dozens of casualties including civilians, and which risks provoking a wider armed conflict in the region.

After more than ten years heading the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit says this is the time that "we should remind one another that we believe in God as the “Good shepherd” who promised to be with us also in times of crisis,” especially in this time of the global COVID-19 crisis.

At the end of the second week of Advent, WCC staff gathered in the Chapel of the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva for a special midday prayer for peace in Syria and the Middle East led by Father Jack (Yaqoub) Mourad, head of the Syriac Catholic Monastery of Saint Elian in al-Qaryatayn.

A century after the landmark Paris Peace Conference that followed the First World War, representatives of churches from throughout Europe gathered in the French capital to seek ways of strengthening peace in the 21st century.

As the Waldensian Methodist Synod met in Torre Pelisse in the north of Italy, the assembled delegates received a letter from Pope Francis, who expressed warm greetings.

“I pray for each of you that you may experience the Holy Spirit in these days of encounter, prayer and reflection,” wrote Pope Francis. “Please allow me to join in your prayer that the Lord would deepen the ecumenical spirit among Christians and lead our churches into a growing communion with each other.”

Because faith communities that work closely with the UN children’s agency are deeply involved with young people on the move, they can play a crucial role in applying the global compacts on safe migration and refugees.

“Open a European humanitarian corridor,” urged Italian Protestant churches and the Community of Sant’Egidio in a letter to Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte.

The Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy (FCEI) and others involved in support for migrants on land, at sea and in the skies are strengthening their collaboration.

The humanitarian corridors programme, an ecumenical project developed by the FCEI’s Mediterranean Hope team with the Comunità di Sant’Egidio in 2015 is now in its second phase.

The World Association for Christian Communication – Europe Region (WACC Europe) is embarking on a one-year project to identify and promote strategies to counter online hate speech focused on refugees and migrants.

In an address to the general assembly of Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy in Rome on 16 November, World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit expressed gratitude for those who help refugees and migrants. At the same time, Tveit mourned the nearly 2,000 people who have died or are missing while trying to make the journey to reach the Mediterranean in the first ten months of 2018.