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The advocacy statement of ecumenical organisations responding to the new EU Migrant Pact and the situation of migrants and refugees in Europe was received 25 September in the European Commission offices in Brussels. The statement was addressed to Vangelis Demiris, cabinet member of the vice president of the commission Margaritis Schinas, who is coordinating the commission’s work on the New Pact on Migration and Asylum. Dr Jørgen Skov Sørensen, general secretary of the Conference of European Churches, and Dr Torsten Moritz, general secretary of the Churches' Commission for Migrants in Europe, delivered the statement to Demiris, who is responsible for the dialogue with the churches and faith-based organisations.

The annual meeting of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID) and the World Council of Churches (WCC) was hosted by the WCC at the Ecumenical Centre, Geneva, and at the nearby Chateau de Bossey from 6-7 February.

At a conference with the theme “Promoting Peace Together” held in Geneva on 21 May, religious leaders focused on two historic documents related to peace-making. The first, “Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together,” was jointly signed by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar in Abu Dhabi in February. The second, “Education for Peace in a Multi-Religious World: A Christian Perspective,” jointly prepared by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the World Council of Churches (WCC), was officially launched at the conference.

Peace education to promote mutual understanding and cooperation between people involving the religious and secular sectors is needed to counter uncertainty fed by radicalization and xenophobia, says a leading human rights advocate.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has made several new appointments this year, welcoming programme executives, a programme director, and a new dean of the Bossey Ecumenical Institute.

Ten weeks after Pope Francis visited the WCC in Geneva as “a pilgrim in quest of unity and peace,” church leaders of different churches representing the WCC and the Roman Catholic Church are meeting in Germany this week to continue their task of “walking, praying and working together.”

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.

Future collaborative work of the Roman Catholic Church with the WCC was the focus of the latest meeting of executives of their Joint Working Group in Geneva.

“The WCC is grateful for new momentum in collective efforts to manifest our common faith in God the creator and our commitment to common service,” said the WCC general secretary, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, as he spoke at the 50th anniversary gathering of a joint WCC-Roman Catholic group.

Meeting from 17 to 24 June, the newly reconstituted Commission on Faith and Order of the WCC has begun to define its principal trajectories for ecumenical study and common activity from 2015 until the next WCC Assembly in 2020.

During the week of 22 June 2015, the 50th anniversary of the Joint Working Group between the Roman Catholic Church and the WCC will be celebrated by church leaders. A public event to mark the anniversary will be held at the Centro Pro Unione in Rome, Italy on 23 June.

More than 250 mission workers and church leaders from around the world gathered in Berlin, Germany, 27 to 28 August, for the Mission Respect congress which reviewed the 2011 document "Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World - Recommendations for Conduct".

A wealth of substantive engagements with and responses to contemporary trends in the theology and practice of mission and evangelism are featured in the newest issue of International Review of Mission.

“Christians are to acknowledge that changing one’s religion is a decisive step that must be accompanied by sufficient time for reflection and preparation, through a process ensuring full personal freedom.” This assertion is one of the guiding principles for Christian mission in India suggested in early March by a consultation convened under the leadership of the Board of Theological Education of the Senate of Serampore University (BTESSC).

"€œChristian Witness in a Multi-Religious World: Recommendations for Conduct"€, a five-page document on the conduct of mission "€œaccording to gospel principles", was released during a public presentation on Tuesday 28 June 2011 at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia will meet Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday, 16 June. The encounter, which includes a private audience, is the first meeting between the two since they took up their current positions. A press conference is scheduled at 12:30 the same day, after the meeting.

<span style="font-weight: bold; "» Where is the ecumenical movement going in the 21st century?