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The Executive Committee of the Joint Working Group between the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Roman Catholic Church met virtually on 12 October to exchange reflections on addressing current challenges and to plan release of future publications.

Besides the dangerous monopoly structures in the digital economy, there is a danger for liberty and justice as they are crucial for pluralistic democracies in the digital world, says Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria. Bedford-Strohm is also chairperson of the council of the Evangelical Church in Germany and was a keynote speaker at the opening of the symposium exploring challenges and opportunities for a more just digital future, in Berlin on 13-15 September, and co-organized by the EKD.

In times of involuntary isolation due to lockdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, online ecumenical retreats have emerged as an alternative place for spiritual dialogue. In Sweden, a series of four so-called “Quiet Days” retreats, where participants join online in a digital room to share a moment of stillness and reflection, were launched on the Eve of Pentecost. Initiated already last year under the headline “A spiritual dwelling for God,” by Lutheran Bishop Karin Johannesson from the Diocese of Uppsala, Sweden and co-hosted by Cardinal Anders Arborelius from the Roman Catholic Church in Sweden, the retreats have been expanded this year with English subtitles to also attract international audiences.  

The Middle East Council of Churches, based in Beirut, Lebanon, has been the convener for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2022 drafting group. The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Vatican have now published the material in several languages.

O Conselho de Igrejas do Oriente Médio, com sede em Beirute, Líbano, foi o organizador do grupo de redação de conteúdo da Semana de Oração pela Unidade dos Cristãos 2022. O Conselho Mundial de Igrejas (CMI) e o Vaticano já publicaram o material em várias línguas.

The latest issue of the World Council of Churches’ journal International Review of Mission deals with one of the most urgent issues in the world today – reconciliation.

Under the title, “Reconciliation as a Missional Task,” the issue explores the meaning of reconciliation, how it can be understood theologically, and what its missiological dimensions mean for the church’s missional task.

Em meio a uma das piores crises de saúde pública do mundo, Cristãos e Cristãs no Brasil mantiveram sua tradição de celebrar a Semana de Oração pela Unidade dos Cristãos no período que antecede o Pentecostes. Pelo segundo ano, os participantes estarão se reunindo em oração, mas não presencialmente. 

In the midst of one of the worst public health crises in the world, Christians in Brazil are upholding their tradition of celebrating the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in the lead up to Pentecost. For the second year, they will be gathering in prayer without physical gatherings though. 

In a message for Pentecost, World Council of Churches regional presidents reflect on the first vision of Pentecost undimmed by hesitation, fear or apathy.  “It augured a new heaven and a new earth,” their message reads. “In the intervening centuries, has that Pentecostal vision narrowed?”

In einer anlässlich des kommenden Pfingstfestes veröffentlichten Botschaft sprechen die Präsidentinnen und Präsidenten des Ökumenischen Rates der Kirchen (ÖRK) aus den verschiedenen Weltregionen über die ursprüngliche Vision von Pfingsten, die ungetrübt war von Zögern, Angst und Untätigkeit.  „Sie verhieß einen neuen Himmel und eine neue Erde“, heißt es in der Botschaft. „Ist diese Pfingstvision in den Jahrhunderten seither enger oder kleiner geworden?“

At the end of its biannual meeting, the World Council of Churches Commission on Faith and Order, in February, reported from its three study groups, which continue to look to future activities and dialogue with a sense of hope.