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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Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox leaders took a major step towards healing a 1,600‑year division when Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew welcomed Pope Tawadros II of the Coptic Orthodox Church to the Phanar for a celebration of the Divine Liturgy on the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women at the Patriarchal Church of Saint George. Both hierarchs called for renewed commitment to unity between their traditions.

In his official address at the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, His All-Holiness spoke about the relationship between the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches, saying that “the relationship between the Eastern Orthodox and the Oriental Orthodox Churches occupies a unique and privileged place within the broader ecumenical endeavour.” He detailed a path to the restoration of unity between the two Churches, and emphasized that “we have been called to move from agreement to reception, from dialogue to life, from theological convergence to sacramental and pastoral cooperation.”
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As Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical ‘Magnifica humanitas’ is unveiled, Professor Anna Rowlands, theologian at Durham University, tells Vatican News that such a powerful message—addressing both the benefits and dangers of our AI era—will leave an enduring mark on the Church and the world.

“There is not a tomorrow to begin thinking about these issues.”

Professor Anna Rowlands, theologian at Durham University in the United Kingdom, stressed this point in an interview with Vatican News following the release of Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, Magnifica humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence, presented at the Vatican on May 25.
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Pope Leo XIV published his landmark encyclical on artificial intelligence, “Magnifica Humanitas”, on May 25, comparing the attempt to build an AI future that excludes God to the “Tower of Babel” and underlining the need to safeguard human dignity as it is “threatened by new forms of dehumanization.”

“The risk of dehumanization — of building a future that excludes God and reduces the other to a means — is an ancient and ever-new temptation that today takes on a technical guise,” Pope Leo wrote in his first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence.”
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“Humanity, created by God in all its grandeur, is today facing a pivotal choice: either to construct a new Tower of Babel or to build the city in which God and humanity dwell together.”

The opening words of Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, Magnifica humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence, summarize its underlying reasons and purpose.

Published on Monday, May 25, the Pope signed the encyclical on May 15, the 135th anniversary of the promulgation of Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum novarum.
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The Consultation on Common Texts supports an ecumenical Festival of Creation and makes editorial changes in the alternative texts for Holy Week, Easter Season, and early Pentecost.

The Consultation on Common Texts (CCT) held its annual meeting in Decatur, Georgia on April 20 to 21, 2026. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship hosted the meeting at its headquarters, with the fellowship’s Executive Coordinator Paul Baxley extending a welcome in person to attending CCT members.
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On July 20, 2001, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) published its Guidelines for Admission to the Eucharist between the Chaldean Church and the Assyrian Church of the East. These Guidelines open the way for competent authorities in the Chaldean Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East to establish procedures and provide appropriate means for the Chaldean and Assyrian faithful to receive the Eucharist of either Church under specific circumstances in cases of pastoral necessity. The principal issue for the Catholic Church in approving the decree related to the question of the validity of the Eucharist when celebrated with the Anaphora (or Eucharistic Prayer) of Addai and Mari which lacks a literal recitation of the Institution Narrative, Jesus’ words: “This is my Body, This is my Blood.” After careful study, the validity of this Anaphora was recognized by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) on January 17th 2001. Subsequently approved by Pope John Paul II, this has been recognized as an audacious decision: Robert Taft, SJ, an Archimandrite in the Ukrainian Catholic Church and a consultant for the Vatican Congregation for the Oriental Churches, has called the publication of the Guidelines “the most remarkable Catholic magisterial document since Vatican II.”
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The Anglican Church of Canada has convened a panel of clergy and bishops to study a pair of proposed reforms to the structure of the worldwide Anglican Communion, known as the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals.

Canon Scott Sharman, General Synod’s animator for ecumenical and interfaith relations, says the goal of the informal group—members of which were selected based on their experience in Communion affairs—is to ensure Canadian delegates to this summer’s Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) meeting in Belfast, Northern Ireland are informed and ready to discuss the proposals with representatives from around the world.

The Inter-Anglican Standing Committee on Unity, Faith and Order (IASCUFO) created the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals in 2024 at the behest of the 2022 Lambeth Conference and the ACC. They articulated the proposals along with their reasoning in a 44-page document based on discussions at their 2023-2024 meetings in Nairobi, Kenya and Cairo, Egypt.
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