“Conflict-related sexual violence” is understood as “rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced abortion, enforced sterilization, forced marriage and any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity perpetrated against women, men, girls or boys that is directly or indirectly linked to a conflict.”
In the field of multilateral relations, the major partner of the Catholic Church is the World Council of Churches (WCC). Founded in 1948, it is the broadest and most inclusive ecumenical organization, bringing together 350 Christian denominations including Orthodox, Lutherans, Reformed, Anglicans, Methodists, Baptists as well as United and Independent churches. Altogether they represent over 500 million Christians worldwide.
A Peace Convocation commemorating 70 years since the start of the Korean War will be held on 20 June at the White Horse Memorial in Cholwon, South Korea.
End of June, early July 1920: 252 Anglican bishops from around the world converge to London. I travel the yellowish pages of the list of dioceses they represent: Zanzibar, Nagpur, Zululand, Adelaide, Argentina, Polynesia, Singapore, Bombay, Southern Brazil, Mombassa, Antigua, Tokyo. They are gathering for a conference called “Lambeth,” from the name of London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, then Randall Davidson, whom they recognise as spiritual leader.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the political, economic and social life of a troubled world, already suffering by the financial crisis and imposed neoliberal austerity measures. With this current crisis, a strange unity has risen; a unity in fear of illness and death, anxious uncertainty for the future and collective mourning for the tens of thousands of deaths.
Ever since the dominant narrative in Italy and in the world about the pandemic has assumed a war terminology — that is, immediately after the health situation in any given country changes drastically for the worse — I have been looking for a different metaphor to describe adequately what we are living and suffering and at the same time to offer elements of hope and of sense for the days ahead.
An article on an interesting subject? No, not this time. I can only write from the deep crisis situation we are in at present. There is nothing else that keeps me more busy than the question of how to live with the anxiety and fear of the coronavirus and what to make of it.
While reading Psalm 46, I noticed a very interesting introduction to the poem. It read, ‘To the leader. Of the Korahites. According to Alamoth. A Song.’ (NRSV) My curiosity peaked. An alamoth could be a soprano instrument or a direct reference to young female singers, (that is – virgins). Intrigued, I read a few commentaries and the preceding psalm, which also references alamoth, albeit in the context of a wedding feast. I wondered whether the two poems, ascribed to the same family of writers and maintaining that peculiar introit, could once have been one psalm.
Following a deal reached between the European Union and Turkey in March 2016, Turkey has been taking measures to prevent migrants – many of them fleeing the conflict in Syria – from reaching the EU, in exchange for European aid for migrants and refugees, and for relaxation of EU visa requirements for Turkish citizens. On Friday 28 February, after military losses in north-west Syria – where Turkey has been trying to create a safe area to resettle millions of Syrian refugees and to serve Turkish interests against the Kurds – those measures were suspended, resulting in large numbers of people attempting to cross into Greece and consequent clashes with Greek security forces.
Brought together by the South Sudan Council of Churches, women and men are sharing the pain of many years of war and associated gender-based violence in a series of workshops in Kenya and Burundi.
Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, WCC General Secretary delivers a speech "What’s love got to do with it? Climate Justice and Care for the Earth" at an international conference on Sustainability and Climate in Religion in Bergen, Norway.
With the announcement on 6 February of a Global Prayer Campaign for peace on the Korean Peninsula, World Council of Churches (WCC) leaders and partners looked back at 30-plus years of history and forward to events planned for 2020.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is deeply concerned by the possible consequences for the Middle East region of today's US air strike that killed general Qasem Soleimani, Iran's most prominent military commander, at Baghdad airport in Iraq. The attack is a major escalation in the confrontation between the US and Iran.
Rev. Dr Martin Robra has been a key contributor to the ecumenical movement for the last 25 years, working for the World Council of Churches (WCC).
Robra is a theologian and ordained pastor who served as programme executive for the WCC for Ecumenical Continuing Formation, Roman Catholic relations, the joint inter-faith project with the International Labour Organisation Advancing Peace through social justice and support for the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace.
WCC Communication asked Robra to reflect on his years of service to the WCC fellowship.
At an event entitled “The role of religions in settling conflicts,” held on 7 November in Geneva, peace-builders spoke out on the necessity of expanding the space for resolving conflict through dialogue and negotiation.The event, held as part of Geneva Peace Week, was organized by the Permanent Observer Mission in Geneva of the Sovereign Order of Malta in collaboration with the Permanent Missions of Azerbaijan, Lebanon, the Holy See, the World Council of Churches (WCC), and the International Catholic Migration Commission.
World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit has expressed alarm and grave concern over the listing of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, along with 17 other civil society organisations, as being fronts for the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army.
