News

Outgoing General Secretary of the World Lutheran Federation talks about the Federation's encounter with the Pope and his hopes for the future.

Pope Francis meets with representatives of the Lutheran World Federation, and encourages Lutherans and Catholics to continue to tread the path from conflict to communion.

The 45-year-old Estonian theologian was elected by the Federation Council on Saturday. She is the first woman and first representative from Eastern Europe to hold this position: " I pray for the guidance of God’s Spirit."...

Bishop Brian Farrell, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and Professor Jeanine Turner, of the Georgetown University Communications Department, have published an article in the latest issue The Ecumenical Review reflecting on the impact of the digital age on ecumenical dialogue.

Marking the 60th anniversary of Centro UNO, the International Secretariat for Christian Unity of the Focolare Movement held a conference in direct streaming entitled “Love one another as I have loved you”.

In words following Sunday’s Angelus, Pope Francis said he will receive the leaders of Lebanon's Christian communities in the Vatican, on 1 July to discuss the deep crisis that the country has been going through for several months. He also recalled three lay women beatified on Saturday in Spain.

Pope Francis offers his condolences to Armenian Catholics mourning the loss of Armenian Catholic Patriarch Gregoire Pierre XX Ghabroyan, who died on Tuesday at the age of 86 in Beirut, Lebanon.

The annual ecumenical event being observed all over Switzerland Friday night is meant to be the symbol of hope and starting anew after the ravages of Covid-19.

È con profonda tristezza che il Pontificio Consiglio per la Promozione dell'Unità dei Cristiani ha appreso la notizia della morte di Sua Grazia il Metropolita Philipose Mar Chrysostom, Capo Supremo emerito della Chiesa siro-malankarese Mar Thoma.  

Acta Œcumenica 2020 is now available and can be consulted online as well as ordered in print format through the Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

Pope Francis sends his greetings to our brothers and sisters who celebrate the Solemnity of Easter according to the Julian calendar. He also expresses sorrow for an accident in Israel and recalls the beatification of a doctor in Venezuela who dedicated his life to the poor.

On 25 April 2021, an ecumenical celebration entitled “Prayer with the Holy Martyrs of the Armenian Genocide” was held at the Basilica of Saint Bartholomew on the Tiber Island to mark the 106th anniversary of Metz Yegern, the “Great Evil”, that struck the people Armenian in 1915, as well as the canonization of the 600 martyrs by the Armenian Apostolic Church, which took place on 23 April 2015 in Etchmiadzin.

Germany's Christian Churches prepare for their Third Ecumenical Kirchentag (ÖKT).

The 20th anniversary of the European Ecumenical Charter, known as the “Charta Oecumenica”, will be marked by European Churches on 22 April 2021. 

Ecumenical Week for Life in Germany: Bishop Losinger warns that assisted suicide fatally leads to admitting euthanasia.

(LWI) - A skilled diplomat but also a man of great simplicity and authenticity, who inspired trust and promoted reconciliation among the divided Christian churches. The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) joins Catholics and other religious leaders in giving thanks for the life of Cardinal Edward Idris Cassidy who died in Australia on 10 April at the age of 96.

Churches in Europe are preparing to celebrate 20 years since the signing of the European Ecumenical Charter, with Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco and others thanking God for the advances made by the global ecumenical movement.

The meeting of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Johann Adam Möhler Institute in Paderborn took place on 18 March 2021.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) General Assembly Planning Committee (APC) met online from 23-25 March to continue planning for the WCC 11th Assembly which will take place in Karlsruhe, Germany, from 31August to 8 September 2022 on the theme “Christ’s love moves the world to reconciliation and unity”.

Sua Grazia Rowan Williams, Arcivescovo emerito di Canterbury, terrà venerdì 19 marzo 2021, alle ore 17,30, la terza conferenza del ciclo della “Cattedra Tillard” 2021.

On Sunday 7 March His Holiness Mar Gewargis III, Catholicos–Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, attended Mass presided over by the Holy Father Francis in the “Franso Hariri” stadium in Erbil, in northern Iraq.

(LWI) - In October 2017, violence in Myanmar forced over 700,000 Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh. They found a temporary home in Cox’s Bazaar refugee camp, one of the largest refugee camps worldwide.

On Sunday, 28 February 2021, the Archdiocese of Singapore headed by Archbishop William Goh, organized a virtual gathering of ecumenical leaders and young adults as part of their year-long program celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Catholic Church’s presence in Singapore.

On the first liturgical commemoration of Saint Gregory of Narek, Abbot and Doctor of the Church, in the General Roman Calendar, the Congregation for the Eastern Churches and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity organized a celebration in the Vatican on Saturday 27 February.

Five Catholic theologians attended the plenary of the Faith and Order Commission designed as a series of six online sessions held in January and February 2021.

A two-day online meeting of the International Committee of the Global Christian Forum (GCF) was held on 22-23 February 2021. The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity was represented by Reverend Andrzej Choromanski, staff member responsible for multilateral relations. 

The fifth session of the Ut unum sint Diploma, the course on ongoing formation in ecumenism organized by the Institute of Ecumenical Studies of the Angelicum together with the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity took place on 19 and 20 February 2021.

The Executive Committee of the Joint Working Group (JWG) between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches (WCC) met online on 3 February 2021.

The texts, which are published in Italian, offer an update on the situation and on ecumenical initiatives undertaken in 2020.

The World Council of Churches prepares its 11th General Assembly in Karlsruhe, Germany, with a call for an “ecumenism of the heart” in a broken world.