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The World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee closed its 13-20 February meeting after having chosen the venue for the 2011 International Ecumenical Peace Convocation, achieved progress towards a broader WCC Assembly, welcomed new member churches, appointed a search committee for a new general secretary and celebrated the Council's 60th anniversary. The WCC main governing body also put its stamp on a number of public statements, policy concerns and programme plans.

Six committed ecumenists, each with significant experience in specific fields of ecumenical endeavour, have been appointed to take up key leadership roles within the Geneva-based World Council of Churches (WCC). The newly appointed staff members will head five programmes plus a planning and integration office, all of which are the result of programmatic reshaping following the WCC 9th Assembly in 2006 .

The honorific title of "archon" has been bestowed on World Council of Churches (WCC) deputy general secretary Mr Georges Lemopoulos by the ecumenical patriarch, HAH Bartholomew, in a 4 February ceremony at the Orthodox Church in Chambésy, Geneva.

Learning of the death on Friday 13 October of Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Ephesus, WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia pays tribute to the former WCC president and senior representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in a tribute addressed to the ecumenical patriarch, Bartholomew I.

As an official observer from the Roman Catholic Church, Monsignor John Radano is a well-known presence at meetings of the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee. Head of the Western Section of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and the principal liaison person between the Vatican and the WCC's Faith and Order Commission, Radano comments in this interview on the first meeting of the new WCC central committee.

Retiring German church leader Bishop Rolf Koppe was honoured by central committee today as he completes a career of ecumenical service which began in 1969. "Your qualities are sound judgement, theological insight and human warmth. In addition, your sense of commitment is to an ecumenical vision far beyond European Protestantism, one which aims at the all-encompassing unity of the church," said WCC moderator Rev. Dr Walter Altmann in a tribute. Bishop Koppe led German Protestant international efforts in recent years in his position as head of EKD's ecumenical relations and ministries broad, and as a member of WCC's top governing bodies. The EKD is the WCC's largest member church in Germany. Koppe played a crucial role in appeasing Orthodox concerns in recent years when he co-presided the Special Commision on Orthodox Participation in the WCC. Speaking on behalf of the Commission's members, Metropolitan Bishoy of Damiette (Coptic Orthodox Church) thanked the bishop and presented him with a Coptic icon. Responding to the tribute, Koppe reminded those present that his ecumenical motto had always been "pray together and stay together," to which he wanted to add the words "pay together!" urging all member churches to carry the financial burden of the Council.