Category: Inside Church

Joy Kennedy, moderator of the WCC working group on climate change, was one of the speakers of a workshop promoted by the WCC during the event. She shared proposals to stop ecocide. “Faith communities are calling for an Ecocide Law that will recognise ecocide as a criminal offense in the International Criminal Court,” she said.

Faith communities are also supporting the development and implementation of Fossil Fuel Non-proliferation Treaty, Kennedy added.

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Archbishop Buti Tlhagale on behalf of the The SACBC Migrants and Refugees Office made a presentation to the Multi-Religious Council of Leaders on the 09 May 2022. The online meeting was attended by various leaders of various religious from different parts of the world. The meeting was about multi-religious efforts to address the root causes of forced displacement and to assist refugees, stateless and internally displaced people.

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“In order to save migrants and refugees from such embarrassment and ill-treatment, churches, religious communities, can help apply for registration online to government. In a long run what is important is for people to have documents,” @M_RSection pic.twitter.com/f4kma5NZXr

— SACBC (@sacbc01) May 10, 2022

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Fifty-two delegates representing 20 Eastern and Oriental Orthodox WCC member churches will participate in the meeting, taking place 9-16 May. The purpose of this meeting is to study, discuss and reflect on the main theme of the WCC 11th Assembly, “Christ’s love moves the world to reconciliation and unity” from an Orthodox perspective.  

Discussions will also center around current global challenges and how the Orthodox agenda at the WCC 11th Assembly can keep dialogue open. Representatives of the Orthodox families will present papers on the assembly theme as well as on the thematic plenaries.

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Pope Francis has again appealed for peace, entrusting his prayers to Our Lady.

“Spiritually kneeling before the Virgin, I entrust to her the ardent desire for peace of so many people, who in various parts of the world, suffer the senseless disaster of war,“ he said.

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“In many contexts globally, stateless people live in religiously diverse societies,” notes the message. “Interfaith cooperation is therefore essential as we work to eradicate statelessness.”

The message observes that, although the world’s major religious traditions are each distinct and beautifully unique, with different sacred texts and ethical perspectives, they do share common values of solidarity, cooperation, equality and non- discrimination.

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Around the world, faith leaders are often trusted, respected and influential members of society. For decades, World Relief has seen the impact that working alongside faith leaders and communities can have in the face of natural and man-made disasters. 

From the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, we knew that the local church was uniquely positioned to support communities through this global disaster. However, it cannot be denied how challenging the pandemic has been for faith communities. 

In Rwanda, frequent and serious lockdowns in the first year and a half of the pandemic prevented social and faith gatherings. Faith institutions were closed for months on end, rendering many faith leaders’ ministries and livelihoods a minefield to navigate. 

At the same time, faith communities in many countries were largely left out of initial nation-wide responses to COVID-19, including vaccination rollouts. And yet, research has shown that religious factors are the third most frequently cited reason for vaccine hesitancy globally, making involvement of faith actors in COVID-19 vaccination efforts imperative.

Building on our existing work of empowering local churches to serve the most vulnerable, World Relief stepped in to fill these gaps. 

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In a meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister on Wednesday morning before the General Audience, Pope Francis reiterated his position of total opposition to the use and possession of nuclear armaments.

According to Holy See Press Office Director, Matteo Bruni, during their conversation that lasted about 25 minutes, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and the Pope talked about nuclear weapons and about how their use and possession is inconceivable.

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“I wonder… if peace is truly being sought…” Pope Francis chose to present in the form of questions the doubts that grip many and which are growing as the military escalation in the war in Ukraine increases.

There is a troubling military escalation in an increasingly devastating conflict that is taking its toll on the defenceless civilian population, and that goes hand in hand with an increase in verbal threats, total demonization of the adversary, and speculations about possible nuclear attacks.

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Pope Francis says he has offered to travel to Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the war in Ukraine, but hasn’t yet heard back.

The Pope told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that he had sent a message to the Kremlin 20 days after the Russian invasion, via the Vatican’s top diplomat.

It is the first time the pontiff has mentioned Russia or publicly named Putin since the beginning of the war in Ukraine more than two months ago.

The Pope also said he had recently had a 40-minute zoom call with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. Patriarch Kirill supports the war, and spent the first 20 minutes of the call reading out all the justifications for it, he told the paper.

The patriarch cannot transform himself into Putin’s altar boy, the Pope said.

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Epps, an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church (USA), first joined the WCC staff in January 1971. A native of Oregon, USA, he had studied engineering and business administration at Oregon State University. Following service in the US Air Force, he studied theology at San Francisco Theological Seminary and the University of Tübingen, Germany. 

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