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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The general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr. Jerry Pillay, has led a delegation to Moscow to meet with leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church, including Patriarch Kirill. The 24-hour visit, which was taking place on Wednesday and Thursday, followed a similar WCC trip from May 10-13 to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

“Consolidation and unity in Ukrainian society, including especially among the majority Christian Orthodox believers, is an obvious necessity in the current circumstances faced by the nation and people of Ukraine” observed Rev. Pillay. “We visited Moscow to discuss engagement also by the Russian Orthodox Church in dialogue on the war and its consequences, including with regard to the deep divisions in the Orthodox family in this context,” Pillay reported, “and I am grateful for HH Patriarch Kirill’s commitment to exploring this possibility.”
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The World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee, elected during the WCC 11th Assembly, has concluded its first meeting, held 7-12 November at the Ecumenical Institute Bossey and at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The governing body focused on follow-up from the assembly, planning for 2023—including the budget and programme plans—and statements that respond to critical situations affecting the fellowship of WCC member churches.
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The World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee elected the WCC executive committee on 8 September during the WCC 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe.

The central committee elects 20 of its members to serve as the WCC executive committee of the WCC, along with the leadership of the central committee, which includes the moderator, two vice-moderators, and the WCC general secretary, as well as the moderators of its programme and finance committees.
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The World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee has elected Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria as its new moderator.

The central committee also elected two vice moderators, Rev. Merlyn Hyde Riley, Jamaica Baptist Union; and H.E. Archbishop Dr Vicken Aykazian, Armenian Apostolic Church, Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

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Speakers during a World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly plenary under the theme “Christian unity and the churches’ common witness” on 7 September reflected on unity, mission, and reconciliation in the fellowship and ecumenical movement. The plenary theme included conversation on accomplishments and challenges to Christian unity and mission since the WCC 10th Assembly in Busan, and mutual accountability and witness to the love of Christ in a changing landscape and looking forward.
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Church and political leaders have marked the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s Reformation in Wittenberg, Germany where on 31 October 1517 he published his 95 Theses denouncing church abuses.

“It was an act of liberation when, 500 years ago today, the Augustinian monk Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses in Wittenberg, perhaps even a few metres from here, on the door of this church,” Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, chairperson of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany, said in his sermon at the 31 October service at Wittenberg’s Castle Church.

“A spiritual renewal went out from Wittenberg, to people in Germany, Europe and worldwide. To men and women from all social classes,” said Bedford-Strohm.

The service opened with the singing of Luther’s hymn “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” whose words are inscribed around the tower of the Castle Church, and included music by 18th century composer Johann Sebastian Bach.

German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier and chancellor Angela Merkel joined church leaders at the service, including Cardinal Reinhard Marx, president of the German Bishops’ Conference, and the general secretary of the World Council of Churches, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.
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The 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017 should be a profoundly ecumenical, as well as European and international celebration, according to Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, chair of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD).

“With this clear distinction from all other commemorations of past centuries, we are sending a signal of reconciliation and a new beginning,” Bedford-Strohm said at a 9 May press conference in Berlin announcing events leading up to the anniversary on 31 October 2017.

The commemoration marks the day in 1517 on which Martin Luther is said to have posted his 95 theses denouncing church abuses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg.

Luther’s actions set in motion events that led to the Reformation and the division of western Christianity into Roman Catholic and Protestant churches.

In recent years, however, Roman Catholics and Lutherans have reached agreement on the doctrine of justification, a key dividing issue between the papacy and Luther and his followers, and many doctrinal differences should no longer have a church-dividing character, said Bedford-Strohm.
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