He earned the title “Green Patriarch” as a religious leader addressing alarming environmental issues over at least two decades. In 2008, Time Magazine named His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew as one of 100 Most Influential People in the World, for “defining environmentalism as spiritual responsibility”.
Germany’s biggest Protestant convention, the Kirchentag, ended in Stuttgart with an open-air service and an invitation to the next gathering in 2017, a year that marks 500 years since the Reformation unleashed by Martin Luther.
Along with other faith-based groups, the WCC has helped develop a declaration, launched by the United Nations refugee agency. It aims to strengthen protection for the world’s refugees as well as internally displaced and stateless people, who account for more than 40 million people in the world.
"What can we, as people of faith, do to respond and to overcome the pressing challenges of our time, such as violence and conflict, and build together mutually accountable societies based on respect and cooperation?" This is the question up to 30 young adults from around the world are to explore during a study course at the World Council of Churches' Ecumenical Institute in Bossey.
With the help of participants from several regions of the world a World Council of Churches (WCC) consultation recently looked at Christian self-understanding in the context of indigenous spiritual traditions.
