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With Evangelical and Pentecostal representatives joining in at an 8-12 August consultation in Toulouse, the joint Vatican-WCC study process on religious conversion gets one step closer to its goal of a common code of conduct in seeking converts to Christianity.

Praying with Jerusalem's Christians, marching to the White House or sponsoring one of 14,609 olive trees are among the activities taking place in "International Church Action for Peace in Palestine and Israel" this week. The initiative is organized by member churches and related organizations of the World Council of Churches to mark 40 years of the occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. It involves public activities and messages to governments in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.

By Marian McClure (*)

On the first leg of a visit to Switzerland, the Vatican, South Africa and Kenya, a twelve-person national delegation from the National Baptist Convention USA, Inc. is visiting the World Council of Churches (WCC) and its Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, just outside Geneva.

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.

The newly-elected moderator of the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee speaks in this interview about the beauty of the ecumenical vision and the enthusiasm it engenders, the scandal of divisions between Christians, and his dream of churches which allow themselves to be renewed so as to experience the unity of the Christian family.

"An honourable and devoted servant of the Gospel and of the cause of Christian unity" and "a pioneer of the ecumenical movement" is how World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia describes Johannes Cardinal Willebrands, who died on 2 August 2006, in a tribute issued today.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the Jewish community at this time, and especially with those who were closest to Dr Alexandre Safran in life", said WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, in a 28 July letter of condolence addressed to the Geneva Jewish community on the death of its Chief Rabbi. Expressing gratitude to God "for the great gift of his life, faith, intellect and service to humanity", Kobia recalled Safran's struggles "to warn the international community of the terrible menace posed to vulnerable minorities by Nazi domination in Europe", and described him as "an accomplished advocate for the state of Israel" whose contributions to inter-religious co-operation were "well ahead of his time".

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