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Brother Alois: Faith in Christ means strengthening unity

The Taizé community is well-known in the churches around the world for its encouraging accompaniment of young people on their faith journey. How has the pandemic challenged the community located in Southern France, and what do the young people thirst for in the time when most of our interactions take place online? WCC Communications learned more on these topics from Brother Alois, prior of the Taizé community, who was visiting the WCC in the beginning of December.

Celebrating Charta Oecumenica, heed Paul's words, European churches’ head urges

If the historic ecumenical document, the Charta Oecumenica, signed 20 years ago, is to hold its relevance for another two decades and beyond, Christians need to continue heeding Paul's letter to the Galatians (3:28). That is the opinion of Dr Jørgen Skov Sørensen, general secretary of the Conference of European Churches, who was teaching in an ecumenical community in Birmingham, UK, at the now-disbanded Selly Oak Colleges, at the United College of the Ascension when the charter was signed in 2001.

Morning Prayer for Monday, 12 April 2021

This week in the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle, we pray with the people and churches of

Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania.

Prayers were prepared in cooperation with the Lutheran World Federation.

In pictures: Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Prayers for unity took on a different look and feel this year, but they weren’t stopped by widespread restrictions on face-to-face gatherings. From prayer cards to personal reflections, online gatherings to new connections, the images worldwide convey the spiritual richness of an ecumenical family that came together in prayer.

Patriarch of Romania: “transform suffering into hope”

In a video message, Patriarch Daniel of Romania addresses the faithful, reflecting that “the state of pandemic calls us to transform suffering into hope and isolation into a desire for more communion among people.” Due to the pandemic, state authorities have imposed strict measures of social distancing, of isolation and quarantine, which greatly change people’s lives and activities, the Patriarch observed .

Rev. Prof. Dr. Ioan Sauca appointed acting WCC general secretary

Rev. Prof. Dr. Ioan Sauca has been appointed acting World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary beginning 1 April. Sauca, who currently serves as deputy general secretary for the WCC programme on Ecumenical Formation and Bossey Ecumenical Institute, will hold the general secretary post until the WCC Executive Committee meets in June.

Churches in France encourage ecological conversion

The Council of Christian Churches in France (CÉCEF) is encouraging local churches to support a recently created Green Church environmental certification label, asking that offerings made at ecumenical services during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity go to help finance the initiative.

“We must see further than our own issues.”

As he participated in prayers for peace on the Korean Peninsula and for a world free from nuclear weapons, Bishop Reinhart Guib (Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Romania) said when he visits the WCC, he sees the world as much bigger than he could imagine.

A cycling pilgrimage of justice and peace

A group of Protestant pilgrims are exercising their legs in an untypical fashion these days: by stepping in the pedals. Their 14-day Bike Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace winds along both sides of the Rhine from Constance to Worms.

G7 must address famine

Not nearly enough is being done to save the lives of the 20 million people who face famine in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and Nigeria. Among them are 1.4 million children, who are at imminent risk of death unless aid reaches them immediately.