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During intense global vaccinations to fight COVID-19, churches can play a vital role in guiding people to better health in informing them on vaccine hesitancy and advocating for equity in immunization, international church leaders told journalists.

When World Immunization Week kicks off on 24 April, nine church leaders from different continents will assume their roles as Vaccine Champions. They join a team of 300 specially assigned Vaccine Champions, mobilized by UNICEF, to raise awareness on the benefits of immunization. 

Swedish Archbishop emeritus Anders Wejryd, president of the World Council of Churches (WCC) for Europe, recently attended a ceremony during which Rodrigo Mundaca, who has fought for free access to water in Chile, received the Nuremberg International Human Rights Award. Wejryd shared with WCC Communication some of his thoughts on water justice.

“God wants the world. God wants us to steward it”, said the Swedish Archbishop Anders Wejryd, president of the World Council of Churches (WCC) for Europe, on 9 December, in his sermon at the Ecumenical Service as part of the United Nations climate conference, in Katowice, Poland.

A conference organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and hosted by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland under the theme “Just Peace with Earth” was offered in conjunction with the Arctic Assembly, the largest annual international gathering focused on the future of the Arctic held Oct. 13-15.

Anders Wejryd, one of the presidents of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and Archbishop Emeritus of the Church of Sweden, has been committed to climate issues since the start of the 1970s and the worldwide oil crisis of that time. To attain a vision of life in God’s kingdom – a healed creation and humanity in a harmony of justice, freedom and peace – Wejryd believes the issue of climate change must be taken seriously. He says that it is about safeguarding the creation, but that it is also an issue of justice and peace.

As the United Nations hosts another round of preparatory climate change talks in Bangkok, faith leaders stress once more that religious values need to be voiced in the debate on how to address climate change.

In a statement to the plenary of high-level segment of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznań, Poland on Friday, 12 December, a delegation representing the World Council of Churches (WCC) will tell government representatives that a "much more principle-based approach is crucial for reaching an effective and equitable global climate policy regime built on the ethical imperatives of justice, equity and solidarity."

The leaders of the (Anglican) Church of England, the (Lutheran) Church of Sweden and the Evangelical Church in Germany have warned against Europe taking advantage of the credit crisis to row back on climate change, in a letter to the president of France and current EU president, Nicolas Sarkozy.

Extensive and quick reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in the wealthy parts of the world is one of the demands in the Uppsala Manifesto, which has been signed at a 27-30 November Interfaith Climate Summit in Uppsala, Sweden.Â