“We are ready to be co-workers with God in whatever tasks of mission serve the Gospel. We give glory to God for the gift of unity already ours in Christ, and we pray for the fuller realization of this gift in the entire Church.”

With these concluding words of the Waterloo Declaration, read aloud on July 6, 2001, Lutherans and Anglicans in Canada committed themselves to a shared future in full communion. They chose to treat differences in areas such as church order, faith expression and liturgical style as gifts that can strengthen unity. They chose partnership, mutual responsibility and a reconciled future over inherited division. Through common discernment, joint witness, shared ministry and so much more, we have learned again and again that unity in Christ is not merely an institutional arrangement, but a gift of grace that strengthens the Church for joining God’s mission in the world.
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Eleven American Pentecostal pastors sat nervously with Pope Francis at the Vatican in June 2016. The meeting, arranged by Thomas Schirrmacher, then chair of the theological commission of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), was an opportunity for the guests to ask the pontiff anything they wanted. Two years earlier, Francis had publicly apologized for past Catholic persecution of the charismatic movement.

At the time, the Italian Evangelical Alliance had cautioned against growing ecumenical openness where “insurmountable” doctrinal obstacles exist. The American delegation was similarly opposed to Schirrmacher’s engagement but had agreed to the meeting. No one wanted to ask the first question. Amid the awkwardness, Francis took the initiative.

He asked the delegation to pray for him.
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Archbishop Sotirios of Canada is resigning in early July, after 52 years of episcopal ministry in Canada. The information of The National Herald was confirmed by the Archbishop himself while he was in Vancouver, Canada, on a pastoral visit, saying: “Your information is true. I am planning on going to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople on the first Saturday of July, where I will discuss it with the Patriarch, and afterwards I will make statements.”

Archbishop Sotirios Athanassoulas recently celebrated his 90th birthday at a major event organized by the Greek diaspora in Canada, about which The National Herald had written in detail.
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Amnesty International Canada and the Canadian Council for Refugees have filed a new Federal Court challenge to the constitutionality of the Safe Third Country Agreement with the U.S. that says refugees must claim asylum in whichever country they arrive in first.

In 2023 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled refugees can avoid being sent back to the U.S. if they face unnecessary detention or the risk of deportation to a country where their rights and lives would be threatened.

These considerations are referred to as “safety valves” by people working in the migrant rights sector.
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The Holy See has released the first papal encyclical by Pope Leo XIV, titled ‘Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence’, which invites reflection on the ethical implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on war, relationships and the battle between good and evil. The Pope signed the encyclical on May 15, the 135th anniversary of the release of Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical ‘Rerum Novarum’. The encyclical was then released to the public on May 25.

In this article, Anglican News features some Anglican responses to this important encyclical and their perspectives on the expanding role of AI.
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The Boards of St. Andrew’s College (SAC) and Lutheran Theological Seminary (LTS) have affirmed their intention to move forward together into a new model of theological education and shared ministry.

This decision reflects years of collaboration, conversation, and discernment between the two institutions. As each school continues to be deeply rooted in their own denominational tradition, both share a longstanding commitment to theological education, leadership formation, academic excellence, and service to church and wider society.

The vision emerging from this work is grounded in the belief that theological education is strengthened when institutions work together in pursuit of a common mission. By building on existing relationships and shared ministries, LTS and SAC seek to create a vibrant and sustainable future for theological education across western and northern Canada.
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Two denominations with historic ties to John Wesley are strengthening their ties with each other.

Driving the move, in part, is the increasing migration of United Methodists from around the globe to Canada.

The United Methodist Council of Bishops and leaders of the United Church of Canada, at separate meetings this spring, each approved an interim covenant that mutually affirms both denominations’ clergy and opens the door to greater cooperation across national borders.

The covenant also declares the leaders’ intention to propose a formal relationship between the two denominations to their top policymaking bodies — the United Methodist General Conference and the Canadian church’s General Council. Both assemblies are next set to meet in 2028.
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From 26 to 29 May 2026, a Knowledge-Sharing Symposium on the Doctrine of Discovery was held in Edmonton, examining the historical and legal consequences of colonization for Indigenous Peoples, and the Catholic Church’s involvement in that colonization in the 15th and 16th centuries.

The event was hosted by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), with support from the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, and representation from the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. It was organized by a group of Catholic men and women, Indigenous and Church leaders and scholars.
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With its 243 paragraphs and more than 200 references, “Magnifica humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence,” the first encyclical of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, will undoubtedly stand as a milestone in the development of Roman Catholic social doctrine. In retrospect, one better understands Cardinal Robert Prevost’s choice of the name “Leo” a little over a year ago: it signals a clear intention to situate his pontificate within a tradition of continuity, particularly in the Church’s mission to serve the most vulnerable in society, as did Pope Leo XIII.
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Since “Rerum Novarum,” Catholic social teaching has generally assumed that the state served as the primary counterweight to concentrated economic power. “Magnifica Humanitas” suggests that this arrangement no longer adequately describes reality.

Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical declares artificial intelligence as the “rerum novarum,” the “new thing,” of our age. And while artificial intelligence is the encyclical’s stated focus, its analysis reaches far beyond AI itself into the broader social order that created the technology in the first place — presenting a critique of economic power that all Christians should wrestle with.

As an Episcopal priest and theology professor, let me begin by acknowledging that Protestants have historically had a complicated relationship with papal encyclicals. Beyond the obvious historical divisions, the very understanding of “church” that grounds Catholic social teaching is not ours. The concept of a magisterium does not bind us, and not all of the doctrinal moves made in the document are ones that we would necessarily share.
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