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On the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay lamented the destruction of so many lives and called for an immediate end to the conflict.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed concern and sadness upon hearing about alleged actions taken against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) against the background of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Religious and traditional leaders in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) participated in online consultations on the SADC Model Law on gender-based violence.

In Nigeria’s northwest state of Kaduna, Christians are bearing the brunt of insecurity and violence, as bandits attack homes, villages and churches, killing Christians and kidnapping others for ransom.

At the centre of the communal violence is religious persecution, territorial ambition and ethnic cleansing in the region where communities have settled along religious lines, according to Rev. John Joseph Hayab, the country director for the Global Peace Foundation, Nigeria.

 

More than 140 people met online in a spontaneous “Gathering in Grief” to mourn Rev. Phumzile Mabizela, who passed away the morning of on 5 July. Mabizela was the executive director of INERELA+ (the International Network of Religious Leaders Living with or Personally Affected by HIV), co-moderator of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance HIV Campaign Strategy Group and a member of the International Reference Group of WCC Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy.

South Sudanese church leaders have welcomed a new cabinet, which the country’s president Salva Kiir Mayardit announced on 12 March.

The unveiling of the cabinet ended months of anxious waiting for a new unity government which was mandated by a 2018 peace pact, known as the Revitalised Agreement for the Resolution of Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan. The government has 34 ministers and 10 deputies.

Religious communities’ significant role in creating safer, sustainable and inclusive cities has been underlined at the United Nations Habitat Assembly in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

When Sudanese women join the mass protests for change and reforms, demonstrators revere them as Kandakes or Candances – the queens of the ancient African Kingdoms of Kush.

Faith-based groups gathered on 2 December, the eve of the opening of the United Nations climate conference, in Katowice, Poland, for an Interfaith Talanoa Dialogue to take stock of the collective global efforts to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases.

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.