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The World Council of Churches (WCC) has expressed great appreciation for recent comments by Mehmet Görmez, head of the Religious Affairs Directorate in Turkey, who sharply criticized the Fatwa (religious order) of Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti endorsing the destruction of churches, criticizing it as baseless and against Islamic principles.

The Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu visited the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople on 3 March in Istanbul, Turkey. He met with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I in order to discuss the need for “harmony” and “mutual trust among the religious and national groups”, a gesture greatly appreciated by the World Council of Churches (WCC).

In a statement read on 9 December to government members from around the world at the United Nations climate summit in Durban, South Africa, the World Council of Churches (WCC) reaffirmed the need for a fair, ambitious and binding treaty to effectively address climate change effects on vulnerable communities.

Metropolitan Damaskinos of Andrianople, who died on 5 November at the age of 75, has been described as a world-renowned theologian, eminent professor, prolific writer, respected church leader, beloved pastor and esteemed ecumenist. This tribute appears in a memorial letter from the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

At the invitation of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, leaders from five historic centres of Christianity in the eastern Mediterranean region met in early September to discuss matters of regional and global concern. In addition to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Orthodox churches of Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem and Cyprus were represented.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has joined in a call to observe Thursday 1 September through Tuesday 4 October 2011 as a time for prayer, reflection and re-dedication regarding care for and just use of God’s gifts in nature.

Ecumenical News International

Thirty representatives of Orthodox institutions gathered in mid-November 2010 at the Andrei Saguna theological faculty in Sibiu, Romania to reflect on the topic “The Ecumenical Movement in Theological Education and the Life of Orthodox Churches”. This discussion was moderated by Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima (Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople).

by Juan Michel (*)

by Theodore Gill (*)

by Theodore Gill (*)

Because unity is finally a gift of God, "it demands a profound sense of humility and not any prideful insistence." With this call to the "never-ending search" for unity of the church, which "is also an ever-unfolding journey", Patriarch Bartholomew I opened the 7-14 October meeting of the Faith and Order Plenary Commission, in Kolympari, Crete, Greece.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I will open the meeting of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Faith and Order, which will take place in Kolympari, Crete, Greece, from 7 to 14 October 2009.

In brief comments to the Fourth Preconciliar Panorthodox Conference which met recently at the Orthodox Centre of Chambésy, near Geneva, the WCC general secretary, Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, assured the participants that the WCC and its member churches are accompanying them in their work in thoughts and prayers, "knowing the importance of the decisions that the conference was preparing."

In a message for World Environment Day, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has stressed that "the care for and protection of Creation constitutes the responsibility of everyone on an individual and collective level."