World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Jerry Pillay is deeply aggrieved by the desecration of a statue of Jesus on the cross by an Israeli soldier in southern Lebanon, depicted in a widely-circulated image.
The World Council of Churches and the Christian Conference of Asia have expressed profound dismay at the ongoing violence and the brutal attacks by military and security forces against peaceful protesters in Myanmar.
Pope Leo XIV says that he is not a politician and that he will "continue to speak strongly against war, seeking to promote peace and dialogue." He was speaking to journalists while on a flight to Algeria and responded to their questions about disparaging remarks Donald Trump, the U.S. president, had made against him earlier on his Truth Social Network.
Chinese authorities are increasingly putting pressure on Christian leaders who do not comply with state control. One instance cited by The Wall Street Journal on March 20 cited the case of nearly 20 people associated with Zion Church, a large, long-running Protestant congregation in Beijing, arrested in October, including its founder, Ezra Jin.
A group of 25,000 Christians in Islamabad, Pakistan, are being asked suddenly to leave their homes by the nation's Islamic authorities, some years after a teenage Christian had been falsely accused some time ago of blasphemy.
In his first "urbi et orbi" Easter Sunday address, Pope Leo XIV used the words of his predecessor and warned of the globalization of indifference to growing conflicts, urging those fighting to lay down their weapons.
Pope Leo XIV led the Catholic faithful at the Good Friday Way of the Cross by carrying the Cross throughout the Colosseum in Rome. Leo became the second pope to carry the Cross for the entire Via Crucis on Good Friday at Rome's Colosseum on April 3, Vatican News reported.
The general secretary of the World Council of Churches, Rev. Jerry Pillay, has warned at the church service in the Cuban capital that reliance on war, violence, and military force as instruments of peace continues to undermine global stability.
The Israeli Police have prevented the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, as they made their way to celebrate the Palm Sunday Mass.
