Long-time Bridgefolk participants remember the booming voice of the late Ivan Kauffman celebrating historic moments that have marked the development of closer relationships between Mennonites, Roman Catholics, and other divided Christians: “It’s a miracle!”

Kauffman would almost shout it. But he had a solidly empirical definition for miracles to match his exuberance: “Things that everybody agreed could not happen, but that happened anyway.”

If Kauffman could have been in Zurich, Switzerland on 29 May 2025, we would surely have heard his booming voice again. Commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Anabaptist movement that began in January of 1525, its spiritual descendants in Mennonite, Amish, Hutterite, and related churches gathered at the city’s Grossmünster cathedral there at the invitation of Mennonite World Conference (MWC).
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Between 2014 and 2024, the proportion of students of European descent at Montreal Diocesan Theological College (often abbreviated as Dio) went from about 60 per cent to 25 per cent, says the Rev. Jesse Zink, the school’s principal.

“We have been moving in a direction that’s much more diverse along lines of immigration status, country of origin, racial, and ethnic identity. And I would just say, I think this is wonderful,” he says. “I was teaching a three-hour class last week. We took a break, and I noticed that students were having little side conversations during our break, and there was one that was happening in English, and there was one that was happening in French, and there was one that was happening in Swahili.”
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“Several concrete solutions have been proposed that, while respecting the principle of Nicaea, would allow Christians to celebrate together the ‘Feast of Feasts,’” the Holy Father said.

Pope Leo XIV on Saturday said the Catholic Church is open to establishing a common date of Easter among all Christian churches, echoing one of the aims of the Council of Nicaea that met 1,700 years ago.

The Pope spoke to participants of the symposium “Nicaea and the Church of the Third Millennium: Towards Catholic-Orthodox Unity,” which took place this week at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome.

The Holy Father called the 325 Council of Nicaea “foundational for the common journey that Catholics and Orthodox have undertaken together since the Second Vatican Council.”
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The Commission on Faith and Witness of The Canadian Council of Churches invites you to explore Towards Wellbeing: Mental Wholeness in Church, Person, and Community — a new ecumenical study guide designed for faith communities.

Developed through rich dialogue among 14 Christian traditions in Canada, this resource offers

• deep scriptural and theological grounding in the Christian understanding of the human person
• practical insights for ministry, pastoral care, and community life
• engaging questions for small group discussion and personal reflection

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La Commission Foi et Témoignage du Conseil canadien des Églises vous invite à découvrir Atteindre le bien-être : l’intégrité mentale pour soi, la communauté et l’Église, un nouveau guide d’étude œcuménique conçu pour les communautés croyantes.

Née d’un dialogue de qualité entre 14 traditions chrétiennes au Canada, cette ressource offre

• un ancrage scripturaire et théologique profond dans la conception chrétienne de la personne humaine,
• des idées pratiques pour le ministère, la pastorale et la vie communautaire,
• des questions engageantes pour les échanges en petits groupes et la réflexion personnelle.

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Representatives from 16 world Communions gathered in Assisi from May 5-7, to discuss the development of a common liturgical celebration focused on creation. This included the Anglican Communion, Baptist World Alliance, Roman Catholic Church, Lutheran World Federation and Eastern Orthodox churches.

Christian traditions have a yearly cycle or liturgical year, with different seasons and events, including feasts and holy days. They commemorate important aspects of Christian history and theology.

The ecumenical dialogue in Assisi explored whether a new liturgical feast of creation could be developed and celebrated across a number of Christian calendars. It was a continuation of discussions that were held in Assisi in 2024.
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A news story last Saturday announced that a Roman Catholic had been appointed to represent King Charles at the Scottish General Assembly. This would seem to be a very strange story from a Canadian perspective. Canadians hold a variety of opinions about the role of the monarchy, but we don’t expect the monarch to be part of the decision-making bodies of our churches. This is just one of the interesting aspects of having a “national” or established church that we have not experienced in Canada.
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During a special audience with religious leaders who came to Rome for the inauguration of his papal ministry, Pope Leo XIV vowed to continue working towards Christian unity and promoting dialogue among all religions.

“Now is the time for dialogue and building bridges,” the pope said May 19 as he met with the leaders in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace.

His guests included Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem, and Catholicos Awa III, patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, as well as Anglican, Methodist, and Lutheran leaders. Representatives of the Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh, and Jain communities also attended.
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With great joy, I extend my cordial greetings to all of you, Representatives of other Churches and Ecclesial Communities, as well as of other religions, who participated in the inaugural celebration of my ministry as Bishop of Rome and Successor of Peter. I express fraternal affection to His All Holiness Bartholomew, His Beatitude Theophilos III, and His Holiness Mar Awa III, and to each of you, I am deeply grateful for your presence and prayers, which are a great comfort and encouragement.

One of the strong emphases of Pope Francis’ pontificate was that of universal fraternity. In this regard, the Holy Spirit really “urged” him to advance with great strides the initiatives already undertaken by previous Pontiffs, especially since Saint John XXIII. The Pope of Fratelli Tutti promoted both the ecumenical path and interreligious dialogue. He did so above all by cultivating interpersonal relations, in such a way that, without taking anything away from ecclesial bonds, the human trait of the encounter was always valued. May God help us to treasure his witness!
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Among his first messages, Pope Leo XIV expressed his intention to strengthen the Catholic Church’s ties with the Jewish community.

“Trusting in the assistance of the Almighty, I pledge to continue and strengthen the church’s dialogue and cooperation with the Jewish people in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council’s declaration ‘Nostra Aetate,'” the pope wrote in a message to Rabbi Noam Marans, director of interreligious affairs at the American Jewish Committee (AJC).

Promulgated 60 years ago, “Nostra Aetate” affirmed the Catholic Church’s spiritual kinship with the Jewish people and condemned all forms of anti-Semitism.
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I thought that travelling to Thursday Island in the Torres Strait was a big trip to make when I responded to Bishop Keith Joseph’s invitation to preside at the Easter services at the Old Cathedral of All Souls and St Bartholomew this year. Little did I realise that just a few days after Easter I would receive a request from the Anglican Communion Office to be part of the Anglican representation at Pope Francis’ funeral in Rome the following weekend.

Planning had to proceed quickly, and I flew out on the Wednesday on flight legs that added up to around 24 hours in the air before arriving in Rome on the Thursday afternoon. Our delegation, led by the Primate of Brazil, Archbishop Marinez Bassotto, assembled at the Anglican Centre, Rome before we were taken to St Peter’s Basilica to pray where Pope Francis’ body lay in state in an open coffin.
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The World Council of Churches (WCC) extended ecumenical greetings to Pope Leo XIV and an assurance of continuing engagement with the Roman Catholic Church in the era of its new pontiff.

WCC moderator of the central committee, Bishop Prof. Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, expressed joy and hope. “As successor of Pope Francis, he will move in a strong tradition,” said Bedford-Strohm. “I expect him to continue Pope Francis’ witness of love towards all people, especially those most vulnerable, and of love for nonhuman creation.”
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More than 11,000 people have participated in the consultations for the next Archbishop of Canterbury – carried out online, by post and in person between February and March this year.

The public consultation was a unique opportunity to influence the future of leadership within the Church, helping to discern the gifts, skills and qualities required in the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury to meet the needs of the Church today and in the years to come.

The themes that emerge through this consultation will sit alongside the ‘Statement of Needs’ produced by the Diocese of Canterbury, as well as other information provided by the National Church and Anglican Communion. This information will inform the Canterbury Crown Nominations Commission of the needs of the mission of the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion.
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Twelve Christian World Communions have issued a message to mark the shared date of Easter in 2025 by all Christians, in conjunction with the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea.

The message seeks to bear witness to the Resurrection of Christ and has been signed by General Secretaries and ecumenical representatives of twelve Christian World Communions. It calls for Christians to work for the unity of the Church, praying for “the Holy Spirit to move our Communions to live and walk together, in obedience to the call of Jesus that all his disciples may be one.” It also offers words of hope “at this time of great political instability in the world, when so many live with fear, suffering, persecution, famine, and other forms of instability and vulnerability.” All Christians are called together to proclaim the good news of “repentance and forgiveness of sins … to all nations” (Luke 24:47-48).
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A “Faith and Order Update,” presenting some of the main areas of the work of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Faith and Order, has been published as the WCC looks towards the  Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order later in 2025, and in the year that marks the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea.

“As the unity of the church is the main goal of our work within Faith and Order, this update offers information about the current work of our study groups on ecclesiology, moral discernment, and theological anthropology and on understanding the churches in and for the world,” writes moderator of the WCC Commission on Faith and Order Rev. Prof. Dr Stephanie Dietrich in her greeting. “I wish you many interesting insights while reading.”
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The Consultation on Common Texts (CCT) concluded its annual meeting at the denominational offices of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in Louisville, Kentucky, on April 8. The Consultation is a joint American and Canadian ecumenical body that is responsible for the Revised Common Lectionary, a schedule of biblical passages read on Sundays and major feasts in congregations of multiple denominations in North America and other parts of the world.
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Today, Thursday, April 10, 2025, the John Templeton Foundation, in collaboration with the Templeton World Charity Foundation and the Templeton Religion Trust, announced that the recipient of the 2025 Templeton Prize is the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

The Ecumenical Patriarch, the longest-serving Archbishop of the Apostolic Throne of Constantinople, is widely recognised, as noted in the Foundation’s official announcement, for “his pioneering efforts to bridge scientific and spiritual approaches to humanity’s relationship with the natural world, inspiring people of all faiths to become stewards of creation”.

Patriarch Bartholomew is internationally acclaimed for his groundbreaking contribution to ecological advocacy, interfaith dialogue, and peacebuilding efforts around the world. These include the unique “Religion, Science, and the Environment” symposia held aboard ships from the Amazon to the Arctic Ocean, his numerous ecumenical and interfaith initiatives within and beyond the Abrahamic traditions, and his sincere and courageous stance on matters of sovereignty and integrity in Ukraine and the pursuit of peace in the region.
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Anglican and Lutheran church leaders from around the world gathered in Amman, Jordan, from 29 March to 2 April 2025 for the first full meeting of the Anglican–Lutheran International Commission for Unity and Mission (ALICUM). Under the theme “Our baptismal unity,” participants reflected on their shared identity in Christ, built deeper relationships, and committed to a variety of catechetical, evangelical, and missiological projects.

ALICUM was established in 2018 by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Council and the Anglican Communion’s Standing Committee as a new commission, built on the foundation of decades of agreements between Anglicans and Lutherans. In several parts of the world, Anglican and Lutheran churches are in relationships of full communion. Like the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM), ALICUM pairs Anglican and Lutheran bishops and leaders with one another from various countries around the world in order to pursues shared teaching, evangelisation, and mission.

This inaugural gathering of the full Commission brought together ALICUM pairs from Cameroon, Colombia, the Holy Land, Malaysia, Tanzania, the USA, and the Porvoo Communion (including representatives from Ireland, Scotland, Finland, and Germany). While the members from Canada and Hong Kong were unable to attend in person, they remain involved in the work.
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On 20 May 2025, the Christian world will commemorate the 1700th anniversary of the opening of the Council of Nicaea, which took place in Asia Minor in the year 325. This was the first ecumenical council in history, and it produced the creed that, completed by the First Council of Constantinople in 381, has become the distinctive expression of the Church’s faith in Jesus Christ. This anniversary occurs within the Jubilee Year, which is centered on the theme “Christ our Hope,” and it coincides with the common celebration of Easter by Christians of both East and West. As Pope Francis has emphasized, in this historic moment—marked by the tragedy of war along with countless anxieties and uncertainties—what is essential, most beautiful, most attractive, and also most necessary for Christians is precisely the faith in Jesus Christ proclaimed at Nicaea. Indeed, the proclamation of this faith is “the fundamental task of the Church” (Address to Participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, 26 January 2024).
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Just over 500 years ago, on January 21, 1525, several adults gathered in a home in Zurich. After prayer and discussion, former Catholic priest George Blaurock asked one of the men present, a university student named Conrad Grebel, to baptize him. After Grebel did so, Blaurock proceeded to baptize the others gathered there. This group
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The General Secretariat of the Synod has sent to all Bishops and Eparchs and, through them, to the entire “Holy People of God” entrusted to their care, a Letter on the accompaniment process of the implementation phase of the Synod «For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission».

This process of accompaniment and evaluation of the implementation phase, coordinated by the General Secretariat of the Synod, was approved by Pope Francis. The Holy Father requested its dissemination to the local Churches and groupings of Churches.

Several significant meetings for evaluating the progress made in the implementation phase will conclude in 2028 with an ecclesial Assembly in Rome.
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Vatican Media spoke with Cardinal Mario Grech, the Secretary General of the Synod, about the objectives of the  process that will accompany the implementation of the Synod on synodality approved by Pope Francis and which will culminate in the Ecclesial Assembly in 2028. “The goal of the journey  that  General Secretariat of the Synod is proposing to local Churches,“ he explains, “is not is not to add work upon work but to help Churches walk in a synodal style.” Here is an extract of the interview.

The Synod on Synodality seemed to be concluded… and now it is starting again, at the will of Pope Francis, who from the Gemelli Hospital approved the work schedule for the next three years…
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Pope Francis has urged U.S. Catholics and people of goodwill to not give in to “narratives” that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to migrants and refugees.

“I recognize your valuable efforts, dear brother bishops of the United States, as you work closely with migrants and refugees, proclaiming Jesus Christ and promoting fundamental human rights,” he said in a letter to the U.S. bishops published by the Vatican Feb. 11.

Pope Francis said he was writing because of “the major crisis that is taking place in the United States” with the start of President Donald J. Trump’s “program of mass deportations.”

In his presidential executive order, “Protecting the American people against invasion,” released Jan. 20, Trump said, “Many of these aliens unlawfully within the United States present significant threats to national security and public safety, committing vile and heinous acts against innocent Americans.”

Pope Francis said, “The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.”
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The Nicene Creed is more than a statement of faith — it is a powerful sign of unity among Christians, Pope Francis said as he welcomed young priests and monks from Oriental Orthodox Churches to the Vatican.

“Whereas the devil divides, the symbol unites!” the pope told the group taking part in a study visit to Rome promoted by the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity. He explained that the Creed is called a “symbol” because it not only summarizes the core truths of Christianity but also serves as a sign of identity and communion among believers.

“How beautiful it would be if, each time we proclaim the Creed, we felt united with Christians of all traditions,” he said.
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Jubilee 2025: Turn Debt into Hope campaign launch webinar to feature Indigenous and Global South voices, Canadian faith leaders.

What: a group of Christian organizations, led by KAIROS Canada, are coordinating Canadian participation in Jubilee 2025, a global movement to end the mounting debt crisis. The Launch Webinar: Jubilee 2025 – Turn Debt into Hope will kick off Canadians’ participation in signing the Jubilee petition and feature insights from Indigenous and Global South voices, as well as from Canadian faith advocacy leaders. The event will feature simultaneous French translation.

Partner organizers include: Citizens for Public Justice, Development and Peace – Caritas Canada, the Office of Religious Congregations for Integral Ecology and The Canadian Council of Churches.

Where: online, via Zoom. For more information and to register, visit the Launch Webinar: Jubilee 2025 – Turn Debt into Hope event page.
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World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay has described the proposal of US President Trump as “tantamount to proposing full-scale ethnic cleansing and neo-colonization of the homeland of the 2 million Palestinians of Gaza.”

Pillay noted that the proposal violates every applicable principle of international humanitarian and human rights law, flouts decades of efforts by the international community – including by the USA – for a just and sustainable peace for the peoples of the region, and would if implemented constitute multiple international crimes of the most serious kind. “The standing of the United States of America as a responsible member of the international community has been gravely diminished by the proposal itself, not to speak of any actual implementation thereof,” Pillay said. 

In a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 4 February, President Trump said the United States “will take over” the Gaza Strip — possibly with the help of American troops — while the Palestinians who live there should leave. “The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too,” said President Trump. “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings,” he said, describing his vision for the area as a new “Riviera.”
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Canada must urgently withdraw from the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) given the dire situation facing refugees in the United States, the Canadian Council for Refugees and Amnesty International Canada said today.

The Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the United States bars most people crossing into Canada via the United States from seeking refugee protection in Canada. Under the agreement – which is premised on the notion that both countries reliably respect people’s right to seek asylum – people entering Canada via the U.S. to make a refugee claim here are usually turned back at the border.

“President Trump’s extreme anti-immigrant and anti-asylum orders are designed to instill fear and make the U.S dangerously more unsafe for those seeking protection,” said Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada’s English-speaking section. “Canada’s assertion that the United States remains a safe country for refugees under the Trump administration is a cruel irony to those fleeing persecution today. It must be urgently rescinded, and tariffs threats must not blur the plight of those at immediate risk.”
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“A permanent ceasefire would cease hostilities, release all remaining hostages, liberate thousands of Palestinian prisoners detained without cause or charge, ensure continuing and increasing humanitarian aid in all forms — medical, food and psychological — and result in the withdrawal of occupying forces,” write Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian and United Church leaders.
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The late Fr. Bernard de Margerie was remembered during the 2025 De Margerie Series for Christian Reconciliation and Unity — the 12th year of the series and the first to be held since his death in March 2024.

“We continue this series in his memory, and, with his encouragement, to continue to be agents of Christian reconciliation and unity,” said Nicholas Jesson, who helped establish the series in 2012 while serving as ecumenical officer for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon, and who now serves in Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations for the Archdiocese of Regina.

“No doubt Fr. Bernard is listening tonight, and joining us in prayer that all may be one in Christ so that the world may believe (John 17:21),” said Jesson in a poignant introduction at the start of the 2025 series Jan. 22 in Saskatoon.
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Pope Francis has named Indian Cardinal George J. Koovakad to be the new prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue.

The 51-year-old, who received his red hat from the pope in December, also will continue to be responsible for organizing papal trips abroad, Vatican News reported Jan. 24, the day his appointment was announced.

The dicastery is responsible for dialogue with Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs and members of other world religions.

“The Dicastery works to ensure that dialogue with the followers of other religions takes place in an appropriate way, with an attitude of listening, esteem and respect,” according to the apostolic constitution governing the Roman Curia.
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Fond memories of early-morning worship services at different Saskatoon churches during the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity were shared at a recent 40th anniversary celebration for the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism, founded in Saskatoon in 1984.

At the 40th anniversary celebration Nov. 22, 2024, Prairie Centre for Ecumenism Board Chair Mary Nordick pointed to the early-morning gatherings on cold and dark prairie mornings in January as times filled with the warmth of fellowship and the joy of re-connecting with friends from other Christian traditions.

Rev. Dr. Sandra Beardsall – a United Church minister and professor emeritus of Church History and Ecumenics who has been involved in the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism (PCE) in various ways over the past 25 years — also shared memories of those early morning gatherings.

“I think those will stay with me all my life,” she said. “I would get up and say ‘what am I doing? It is minus 30!’ And then there would be this beautiful prayer service, and breakfast, and friends … there is something so precious about that praying together early, early in the morning.”
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The fact that Anglicans and Catholics are not able to receive the Eucharist together yet is a matter of sadness,” the Bishop of Ossory Niall Coll said at the start of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

In his homily at an Anglican Eucharist in St Canice’s Cathedral, Kilkenny last weekend, Bishop Coll said the Church of Ireland liturgy, as well as his attendance at a meeting of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission last year, were the “most moving experiences” of spiritual communion for him.

He told the congregation he hoped they would be “a further impetus to continue our ecumenical journey together so that we might one day break bread together around the same altar”.
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While a new perspective in the goal of Christian unity that embraces diversity has emerged in recent years, more work is needed to include the burgeoning non-denominational Churches.

Sceptics often ask whether a century of ecumenical activity has brought Christians any closer to the goal of full visible unity. But in recent years the traditional goal of ecumenism has been reframed. What is now hoped for might be better described as “full communion in continuing real diversity”.

This new horizon has come about through multiple experiences of what the theologians involved in ecumenical work call “transformative ecclesial learning”. This is the modus operandi of “receptive ecumenism” – another technical term for an initiative conceived more than 20 years ago by Paul D. Murray of the University of Durham and developed with colleagues around the world. Its starting point for each tradition, institution and person is to ask, “What can we learn, or receive, with integrity from our various others in order to facilitate our own growth together into deepened communion?” Focused initially on establishing a new approach for the Roman Catholic Church in its ecumenical relationships, receptive ecumenism has evolved in a host of Christian denominations as well as in various countries and cultures around the world.
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The resignation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as Liberal Party leader and the prorogation of Parliament may have postponed a non-confidence vote and an immediate election, but has not averted the risk of certain organizations losing their charitable status on the basis of religious belief or disagreement with government policy, say experts speaking on behalf of stakeholders.

The finance committee of the House of Commons has tabled a report which, if enshrined in law, could destabilize the entire charitable sector, according to legal experts of two major organizations.

The controversial recommendations from the committee are:

• Anti-abortion organizations should no longer be accorded charitable status;
• The Income Tax Act should be amended to provide a definition of a charity which would remove the privileged status of “advancement of religion” as a charitable purpose.

“The issue is an important one,” Deina Warren, director of legal affairs with the Canadian Centre for Christian Charities (CCCC), told The Catholic Register. “The recommendation has been formally made by a House Committee and ought to be officially retracted, and advancing of religion as a charitable purpose should be positively affirmed by the government.”
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An Indian diocese has opened its facilities to welcome Hindu pilgrims during a six-week festival in a northern city, hailing it as a “wonderful experience of faith.” Organizers of the millennia-old Maha Kumbh Mela, a mammoth expression of religious piety and ritual bathing that opened on Jan. 13, expect 400 million people in the city of Prayagraj, earlier called Allahabad.

“You have to see it to believe it,” Bishop Louis Mascarenhas of Allahabad in the northern Uttar Pradesh state told UCA News on Jan. 15. “We have thrown open three of our educational institutions — St Joseph College, St Mary’s Convent Inter College, and Bethany Convent School — for the convenience of Hindu pilgrims during the entire duration of the festival,” Mascarenhas said. He said the pilgrims were driven by their faith to take the holy dip in the cold waters despite the temperatures hovering around 4 to 5 degrees Celsius.

Hindus believe that during the auspicious period, a ritual bath in the confluence of the holy rivers Ganges, Yamuna, and mythical Saraswathi can wash away sins, free them from the cycle of rebirth, and help them attain moksha (salvation).

The Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj attracts Hindus worldwide as it occurs only once every 12 years. Many pilgrims begin bathing in the waters before sunrise during the festival scheduled to culminate on Feb. 26.
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Canadian Christian organizations, led by KAIROS Canada, are calling on Canadians to join a global movement to end the mounting global debt crisis by signing the Canadian petition for Jubilee 2025.

The petition, which aims to collect 100,000 signatures in Canada by the end of 2025, will be combined with a global initiative urging world leaders to cancel unjust debts, establish a United Nations mechanism for debt resolution, and prevent future cycles of crushing debt. The global goal is 10 million signatures, working with ecumenical and civil society partners around the world, focusing on debt cancellation, international financial reform and climate justice.
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Taking up the spirit of the recently inaugurated Holy Year 2025, the Cuban government has announced the release of 553 people currently serving prison sentences.

Cuba said it would gradually release the prisoners “in the spirit of the Ordinary Jubilee of the year 2025 declared by His Holiness” following a “thorough analysis” of the legal and humanitarian avenues to enact their release, Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced in a statement Jan. 14.

The statement did not specify who would be among the 553 prisoners designated to be released.

That same day, the White House announced that it will no longer designate Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism and that it would eliminate some restrictions on Cuba.

The White House said the actions were steps “to support the Cuban people as part of an understanding with the Catholic Church under the leadership of Pope Francis and improve the livelihoods of Cubans.”
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) — While calling himself an “old man” and saying he never expected to be pope this long, Pope Francis said he still has dreams for the future.

“We must not stumble upon tomorrow, we must build it, and we all have the responsibility to do so in a way that responds to the project of God, which is none other than the happiness of mankind, the centrality of mankind, without excluding anyone,” the 88-year-old pope wrote in his autobiography.

“Hope: The Autobiography” was written with the Italian editor Carlo Musso beginning in 2019. The book was released Jan. 14 in its original Italian and in 17 other languages in about 100 countries. Random House published the book in the United States, and Penguin Random House Canada released it in Canada.

The original plan, Musso said, was for the book to be released after Pope Francis’ death. But Mondadori, the Italian publisher coordinating the release, said the pope decided in August that it should be published at the beginning of the Holy Year 2025, which has hope as its central theme.
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VATICAN CITY (RNS) — A provisional document published by the Italian Bishops’ Conference on Friday (Jan. 10) and approved by the Vatican cautiously opens the door for the ordination of openly gay men to the priesthood, while maintaining the normal requirement of chastity.

“In the formative process, when referring to homosexual tendencies, it’s also appropriate not to reduce discernment only to this aspect, but, as for every candidate, to grasp its meaning in the global framework of the young person’s personality,” the document reads, adding that the goal is for the candidate to know himself and find harmony between his human and priestly vocation.

The Vatican department for clergy approved the document, which will be valid for three years. The document was signed by the head of the Italian bishops, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who is considered a close collaborator to Pope Francis.
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The Arians believed that Jesus was a created being and not fully divine; these ideas were condemned at Nicaea in 325, but continue to resurface. The hope of the former preacher to the papal household is that this seventeenth centenary year will see a reawakening of faith in the divinity of Christ and in the trinity of God.

The year 2025 marks the seventeenth centenary of the Ecumenical Council held in the city of Nicaea (now Iznik, Turkey) in the early months of 325. The creed sanctioned by that council unites Christians of the historic Churches – Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Calvinist, Anglican – and the various denominations that go under the name of “Evangelical” and “Pentecostal”. This centenary provides us with a unique opportunity – one that only at this point in history are we able to grasp – to acknowledge and celebrate together the faith that unites all believers in Christ.

It also offers us another, no less important opportunity: to take a reconnaissance flight that looks at faith in Christ in the modern and post-modern world and compares where we stand today to the faith of Nicaea. In the aftermath of a local council held in Rimini in 359, dominated by opponents of Nicaea, St Jerome wrote: “The whole world groaned and was astonished to find itself Arian.” We must ask ourselves whether, by chance, we have an even greater reason today to let out such a groan.
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Travelling to Winnipeg following time in Toronto, Pillay participated in a tour of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, met with Indigenous church leaders, had an ecumenical dinner with young adults, visited the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, spoke at a panel discussion co-hosted by the Manitoba Multifaith Council and shared a breakfast at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada National Office with church leaders and representatives. 

“It has been so great to be with you,” Pillay said. “We are pilgrims and continue to co-pilgrim together. If there is one message, one takeaway from the past few days, it is this: You are not alone; we are with you. Worldwide, globally, we stand together. Whatever you experience in this part of the world, we would love to journey with you and be as helpful as we can and seek your guidance as we speak into the situation from the outside.
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Following a long-standing tradition, on the occasion of today’s Feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, patron saint of Constantinople, Pope Francis has sent a delegation to Istanbul to convey his greetings and the assurance of his “fraternal affection” to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I.

The visit is part of the annual exchange of Delegations between the Holy See and the Patriarchate for their respective patronal feasts, on 29 June in Rome, the Feast of St. Peter and Paul, and on 30 November in Istanbul, Türkiye.

In his message, Pope Francis highlights listening without condemning as the primary path toward unity between Catholics and Orthodox Christians, expressing his hope that the upcoming celebrations 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea may offer an opportunity to strengthen the fraternal relations they have developed over the past six decades.
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Doubling down on the centrality of synodality in the Catholic Church, Pope Francis said that it is now up to local churches to accept and implement proposals from the final document approved by the Synod of Bishops on synodality.

Approved by the pope, the synod’s final document “participates in the ordinary magisterium of the successor of Peter, and as such, I ask that it be accepted,” the pope wrote in a note published by the Vatican Nov. 25.

“Local churches and groupings of churches are now called upon to implement, in different contexts, the authoritative indications contained in the document, through the processes of discernment and decision-making provided by law and by the document itself,” he wrote nearly a month after the synod’s close.

The final document outlined key priorities for the church, including increased participation of laity through new ministries and adjusted governing structures, greater transparency and accountability among church leadership and creating space for previously marginalized groups.

After synod members voted to approve the final document, Pope Francis announced that he would not write the customary apostolic exhortation after the synod but would instead offer the document to the entire church for implementation.
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Anne-Cathy Graber was surprised when Mennonite World Conference received an invitation to send a delegate to the Roman Catholic Synod on Synodality’s concluding assembly in Rome.

“The invitation was amazing, considering how small the Mennonite world is,” said Graber, secretary for ecumenical relations for MWC.

Graber, 60, is an itinerant Mennonite pastor in France. She was tapped by MWC general secretary Cesar Garcia to be one of the 16 fraternal delegates from Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, Reformed, Baptist, Mennonite, Pentecostal and Disciples of Christ churches at the synod.

As a fraternal delegate at the Oct. 2-26 assembly, Graber — who is also co-director of the Chair of Ecumenical Theology at the Faculties Loyola Paris and a member of a religious order that promotes Christian unity — could fully participate in discussions with 368 delegates from around the world. The only thing she could not do was vote.
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On October 24, 2024, Canada’s four leading nuclear disarmament organizations—the Canadian Pugwash Group, the Canadian Network to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Canadians for a Nuclear Weapons Convention, and Project Ploughshares—convened an expert Roundtable on “Nuclear Disarmament in Times of Unprecedented Risk.” This was the second extraordinary roundtable held in response to rapidly escalating nuclear threats. The convening organizations share the profound conviction that Canada must urgently reassert its voice and leadership in the global disarmament arena.

The world now stands on the razor’s edge of the most severe nuclear weapons threat since the Cold War. Recent years have seen a deep erosion of the global nuclear arms control and disarmament framework, marked by the collapse of critical treaties, advances in destabilizing weapons technologies, record-breaking expenditures in conventional arms, and an alarming resurgence of great-power competition.
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Le Comité international conjointement parrainé par le Dicastère pour la promotion de l’unité des chrétiens (DPUC) et le ConseConseil œcuménique des Églises class=’c2c-text-hover’ title=’Conseil œcuméniques des églises’>COE) s’est réuni au siège spirituel et administratif historique de l’Église apostolique arménienne, le Saint-Siège d’Etchmiadzine, du 13 au 17 octobre, afin de finaliser les textes et les prières pour la Semaine de prière pour l’unité des chrétiens 2026. Les membres du Comité étaient les invités du Département pour les relations interconfessionnelles de l’Église apostolique arménienne, qui avait rédigé le projet de textes en collaboration avec les organismes catholique et évangélique locaux.

Le groupe de rédaction arménien a achevé son travail immédiatement après la bénédiction du Saint Myron (huile sainte) et la nouvelle consécration de la cathédrale mère, les 28 et 29 septembre 2024, suite à d’importants travaux de rénovation ayant duré dix ans. Cette commémoration a fourni au groupe de rédaction une occasion unique de réfléchir et de célébrer la foi chrétienne commune qui reste vivante et fructueuse dans les églises d’Arménie aujourd’hui. Le matériel s’inspire des prières et pétitions traditionnelles utilisées par le peuple arménien, ainsi que des chants provenant des anciens monastères et églises d’Arménie, dont certains remontent au quatrième siècle. La Semaine de prière pour l’unité des chrétiens 2026 offrira aux chrétiens du monde entier l’occasion de puiser dans cet héritage chrétien commun.
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The international committee jointly sponsored by the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity (DPCU) and the World Council of Churches (WCC) met at the historic spiritual and administrative headquarters of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, from 13 to 17 October, to finalise the texts and prayers for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2026. The committee members were guests of the Inter-Church Relations Department of the Armenian Apostolic Church, which had drafted the materials in collaboration with local Catholic and Evangelical bodies.

The work of the Armenian drafting group had been completed during the days following the blessing of the Muron (holy oil) and the re-consecration of the Mother Cathedral, on 28 and 29 September 2024, following extensive renovations over ten years. This commemoration provided the drafting group with a unique opportunity to reflect on and celebrate the common Christian faith that remains alive and fruitful in the churches in Armenia today. The resources draw upon historic traditions of prayer and petitions used by the Armenian people, along with hymns that originated in the ancient monasteries and churches of Armenia, some of which date as far back as the fourth century. The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2026 will offer Christians throughout the world the opportunity to draw upon this shared Christian heritage.
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An Ecumenical Prayer Vigil took place on Friday, 11 October, in the Square of the Roman Protomartyrs at the Vatican, attended by Pope Francis and participants in the second session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (2-27 October 2024).

In his introductory remarks, Cardinal Koch, Prefect of the DPCU, recalled that this day marked the anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, and also highlighted the 60th anniversary of the publication of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, and the Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio.
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The second session of the Synod of Bishops on synodality, set to bring 368 bishops, priests, religious and laypeople to the Vatican, will begin by asking forgiveness for various sins on behalf of all the baptized.

As synod members did before last year’s session, they will spend two days on retreat before beginning work; that period of reflection will conclude Oct. 1 with a penitential liturgy presided over by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican announced.
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With great sadness, The United Church of Canada announces the death of The Very Rev., The Honourable Dr. Lois M. Wilson, the denomination’s 28th Moderator, and the first woman to fill the role. She faithfully served as Moderator from 1980 to 1982. Rev. Wilson died in hospital in Fredericton, NB, on Sept. 13, 2024. She was 97 years old.

Her faith drove her actions, and she remained involved in the work of the Church right to the end.
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