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50 young people from 24 countries have sent a message of hope to the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), which will be hosted by the United Arab Emirates at the end of 2023. The message was delivered during a special ceremony during the second edition of the Emerging Peacemakers Forum, held at the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, Switzerland.

Applications are open for a Young Adults Training for Religious Amity program (YATRA) to be held in October.

A new publication from WCC, “Coexistence: Peace, Nature, Poverty, Terrorism, Values (Religious Perspectives)” by Anastasios, Archbishop of Tirana, Durrës, and All Albania, is now available in hard copy and as an eBook.

Dr Agnes Abuom, moderator of the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee, shared a message with the Conference of the World Council of Religious Leaders on Faith and Diplomacy: Generations in Dialogue, being held 4-7 October in Lindau, Germany.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) observed the International Day of Human Fraternity on 4 February, emphasizing the significance and value of unity among our one human family.

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.

As the Youth in Asia Training for Religious Amity opened at the Yonsei University Chapel in South Korea on 18 September, participants were already learning to live into the theme “Stewards of Hope, Seekers of Harmony.” For the first time, the training includes not only young people from Asia but from across the world, and is being co-coordinated by the World Council of Churches (WCC) Programme for Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation, the Council for World Mission, and youth representatives from the ecumenical movement.

At the most glorious moment in her career, Rev. Prof. Dr Sang Chang discovered that society is not always friendly and that politics can be devilish. But thanks to God, she got over it. Without bitterness and even more determined in her fight for gender equality and social justice.

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.

Racism is a curse that continues to haunt the global community, with new forms constantly emerging. This curse brings us to the realisation that no country is free from racism and we cannot afford any attitude of pretence or denial that no further action is needed to focus on racial justice in order to re-establish human dignity and equal human rights on a global scale.

In the wake of the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka, the Omnia Institute for Contextual Leadership, based in Chicago, lifted up points of hope that peace will win in the end. In a 25 April message, Shanta Premawardhana, president of the institute, wrote that every person of every faith of every nation deserves to wake up in peace. “Every child deserves to feel safe, welcomed, and alive to the promise that each day brings,” Premawardhana wrote. “I'm sure you know that this is why we build Interfaith Peacemaker Teams in Sri Lanka.”

The Christian Conference of Asia gathered over 100 participants representing seven religions including Christian, Buddhist, Islamic, Jewish, Bahai, Hindu and Sikh to meet with the participants of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace Reference Group to discuss relevant issues about religion and their implications to the Asian society.

Calling for a new social pact, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit urged an international, interreligious conference in Abu-Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, to use their religious influence and institutions to nurture tolerance and respect through the transcendent value and concrete practices of love.

‘History’ and ‘Time’ were the thirteenth and fourteenth subjects covered in a workshop which took place in Erlangen, Germany, 12-14 December as part of a project “Key Concepts in Interreligious Discourses.”