As a “Life and Work” centenary conference in Athens entered its second day, the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission of the Churches on International Affairs traveled back in time to consider the scene in Stockholm in 1925—then took a courageous look forward at the many serious global issues under consideration by churches today.

Reports from the moderator and the director of the World Council of Churches Commission of the Churches on International Affairs summarized the history of the Conference on Life and Work and looked forward at the commission’s upcoming discussions of emerging global trends.

Church leaders and Christians in Africa are mourning the death of Pope Francis, who died on Easter Monday, 21 April.

In a conversation held on 2 May that drew repeated applause from the large audience at Kirchentag in Hanover, Germany, Bishop Marianne Edgar Budde, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, DC, and Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, moderator of the World Council of Churches central committee, reflected together on how churches, with courage and unity, can stand up for justice.

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.

The world today learned of the death of Pope Francis, the bishop of Rome and leader of the world’s 1.37 billion Catholics.

As nearly 500 people gathered in-person and online for the 11th Annual Symposium on the Role of Religion and Faith-Based Organizations in International Affairs, they spoke of “finding the sun”—a symbol of a future that is both possible and profoundly just—together.

On the 80th anniversary of the execution of Dietrich Bonhoeffer for his opposition to Hitler, the moderator of World Council of Churches has paid tribute to the deep faith of the German theologian, saying his life and witness continue to inspire the ecumenical movement.

World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay extended condolences to those who lost loved ones and invited prayer and support for the people of Myanmar and Thailand in the wake of a 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck Myanmar, with aftershocks in Thailand, on 28 March.

Hunsam Lee, new general secretary of the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea, and Dr Sungkook Park, from the Ecumenical Department of the church, met with Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), and Dr Manoj Kurian, director of the WCC Commission of the Churches on Health and Healing, at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva.