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A clear, global interfaith call to action to end the AIDS epidemic will be unveiled at an interfaith service on 7 June at 5:30 p.m. in the Church Center of the United Nations, 777 United Nations Plaza in New York City. The service will precede an 8-10 June UN High Level Meeting on AIDS at which world leaders will adopt a concise, action-oriented Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS. The declaration will express the commitment of nations to HIV response, and serve as a point of accountability for achieving the goals for ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2030.

“Leave no one behind.” That’s the urgent message of the World Council of Churches’ general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit in a video released in preparation for a United Nations High Level Meeting on AIDS in New York, 8-10 June.

Last Sunday, the “Twin Consultation” on “Reformation – Education – Transformation” wrapped up at the Francke Foundations in Halle, Germany. Held six months after the first consultation in São Leopoldo, Brazil, the five-day session in Halle became a vibrant meeting point and a juncture between different religious contexts from the global North and South.

“Act now, not later.” Dr David Barstow chose this message for a photo featured in the “100-day countdown” to a United Nations (UN) High Level Meeting on HIV in New York on 8-10 June.

On the world scale of countries with plentiful water, Brazil comes out in the top league. It has 12 percent of the world’s fresh water supplies. Yet Magali do Nascimento Cunha does not see her country scoring so well when it comes to water and sanitation distribution.

For public theology, “the essential and pressing task of the churches and theological education is to foster love, dialogue, forgiveness, reconciliation” says Prof. Dr Rudolf Von Sinner.

Interview with the WCC general secretary, who is currently in Brasilia, about violence committed in the name of religion, human rights and climate justice in Brazil.

“The effects of climate change today and tomorrow will affect basic human rights,” said Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC, during an audience with the Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, at the Palacio de la Moneda in Santiago on 29 August.

“Join the pilgrimage of justice and peace! Stand up for the creation that is threatened, for justice and peace, so that people may gain hope so that life will flourish. The most severe threat to basic human rights here in the next decades will be the dramatic effects of climate change. This is what eco-justice means.” This was a message the WCC general secretary conveyed at a public event of the Argentina Chancellery.

To strengthen relationships and support churches in Latin America in their struggles for justice and peace, a pilgrimage of church leaders organized by the WCC will visit Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Colombia from 24 August to 7 September.

The nuclear attack on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945 revealed the brutality and dangerous logic of war, money and power, according to an Indigenous Anglican bishop from Canada.

Canadian Christians concerned about climate change are calling for government action in response to the impact of global warming on the country’s coastlines and vast Artic region.

Bishop Mark MacDonald shared views on indigenous peoples and climate change in an interview with WCC Communications. "We are entering an era in which the public has a broader awareness of the rights of indigenous peoples," he said.

Rev. Dr Odair Pedroso Mateus, professor of ecumenical theology at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland and acting director of the WCC Commission on Faith and Order, has been confirmed as the new Faith and Order director.

Global health and religious leaders meeting at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva have noted the essential role faith-based organizations play in providing health services.In a consultation entitled: “The future of faith-based health care provision”, participants related some of their experiences in responding to the global Ebola crisis.

Amidst the reality of tensions often fueled by religions, a group of Christian, Muslim and Jewish youth has formed a multi-faith community. As part of an interfaith summer course sponsored by the WCC, this community wants to work for the protection of creation – a concern they say is common to all faith traditions.

Plans are advancing for the Interfaith Summit on Climate Change, to be held in New York from 21 to 22 September. A new website featuring interfaith perspectives on climate change, highlighting the upcoming summit, has recently gone online.

Rubem Alves of Brazil, one of the foundational thinkers behind Latin American “liberation theology”, died at the age of 80 on Saturday 19 July. This scholar, teacher, activist, psychotherapist and author is being commemorated by colleagues, former students, journalists and others, including heads of state.

In La Paz, an ecumenical delegation delivered to Bolivian government officials a statement on ethical principles for a new global economic system. The statement was received by Bolivian minister of the presidency Juan Ramon Quintana at the government palace on 9 January.