Pope Francis to visit World Council of Churches as part of its 70th anniversary celebrations

Wednesday, June 6, 2018

In 2018, the World Council of Churches (WCC) is celebrating its 70th anniversary. To mark this occasion, Pope Francis will visit the WCC in Geneva on 21 June 2018. The theme for the visit is Walking – Praying – Working Together, which is intended to echo the pilgrimage for justice and peace, a theme adopted by the WCC at its last assembly. The Holy Father’s visit will take place at the end of the WCC Central Committee meeting and will be at the centre of the ecumenical commemoration of the 70th anniversary. When announcing the visit, on 2 March 2018, the President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, His Eminence Kurt Cardinal Koch, remarked, “The visit … will be a sign of recognition of the unique contribution of the WCC to the modem ecumenical movement.”

The WCC is a fellowship of 348 member Churches, including Orthodox Churches, along with dozens of Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, Reformed, and other Churches that together represent roughly half a billion Christians around the world.

While the Catholic Church is not a member of the WCC, various dicasteries of the Roman Curia and different Catholic organizations and religious communities collaborate closely with its different programmatic areas. For instance, the Catholic Church is a member of the WCC Commission on Faith and Order. As well, since 1965, a Joint Working Group of the WCC and the Catholic Church has been a catalyst for fruitful collaboration in areas of doctrinal dialogue, ecumenical formation, mission and evangelism, youth, justice and peace, and emerging questions relating to the life of modern societies.

Link to the webpage of the WCC on its 70th anniversary

Link to webpage of the WCC announcement of Pope Francis’ visit 

Link to announcement by Cardinal Koch regarding the visit of Pope Francis to the WCC