Wednesday, June 17, 2026

WCC NEWS: Global Fund gathering in Luxembourg underscores international solidarity in health

A high-level working lunch with Members of Parliament, organized in Luxembourg by Friends of The Global Fund Europe, acknowledged that the contribution of Luxembourg to the Global Fund is an example of international solidarity and commitment for Europe and for the world.
Notre-Dame Cathedral, Luxembourg. Photo: Albin Hillert/Life on Earth
16 June 2026

Gracia Violeta Ross, World Council of Churches (WCC) programme executive for HIV, Reproductive Health, and Pandemics, represented the WCC and served as a panel speaker. 

Speakers presented data on the impact of funding cuts—particularly those from the US—in sub-Saharan Africa, thereby demonstrating the risks of disease resurgence as well as the consequences of deprioritizing international solidarity.

Speakers also illustrated the transformative potential of innovation—specifically artificial intelligence applied to tuberculosis—demonstrating that current investments pave the way for the solutions of tomorrow.

The lunch was attended by members of Parliament; members of the Committee on Health and Social Security; and members of the Committee on Foreign and European Affairs, Cooperation, Foreign Trade, and the Greater Region.

“Drastic cuts in international cooperation have led to the closure of community-led programs,” Ross said. “These are essential programs that reach communities that governments cannot reach.”

Ross noted that the Global Fund not only supports HIV prevention and care—it strengthens health systems and community systems. “Many of its HIV investments were used in the COVID-19 response,” she said. “But beyond that, the Global Fund enables democracy and civic participation.”

Ross urged support for countries moving towards domestic resource mobilization, while maintaining international solidarity. “These are complementary, not contradictory,” she said. “We now have an opportunity to highlight again the need for sustained commitment to HIV.”

Ross added that Luxembourg is an excellent example of what international solidarity in health truly means—for Europe and for the world. 

“We ask you to please continue supporting the Global Fund,” she said. “When you do so, that support reaches communities.”

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The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 356 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa.

Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press
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WCC News: WCC, Caritas, World Vision launch “Give your loaves and fish”

The World Council of Churches (WCC), Caritas Internationalis, and World Vision International marked World Hunger Day online on 9 June with the launch of “Give your loaves and fish” – the Prayer and Action Against Hunger Coalition’s 2026 campaign. The church-by-church mobilization began in Latin America, led by World Vision and is now spreading worldwide through the coalition.
"Give Your Loaves and Fish" — World Hunger Day Webinar"
16 June 2026

“The key message here is sharing,” said Dinesh Suna, WCC programme executive for Land, Water, and Food, who co-moderated the event with Craig Stewart of World Vision. “When you share food, food grows, and it feeds hungry mouths.”

That act of sharing is what the campaign’s painting depicts. The image that gives the campaign its name, a work by Harold Segura, World Vision’s regional director of Faith & Development for Latin America and the Caribbean, shows loaves and fish circling an open hand. Opening the webinar, Jamie Thomas of Bread for the World, USA read the image alongside Matthew 14:13–21. “What seems insufficient at first becomes enough because it’s no longer mine or yours, but ours,” Thomas said. “That is kinship. Not charity, but solidarity. Not transaction, but relationship.”

The scale of the need that reflection addresses came next. Musamba Mubanga-Mtonga of Caritas Internationalis, presenting findings from the Global Report on Food Crises 2026, noted that famine has been confirmed in Gaza and Sudan. “These are not merely statistics,” she said. “Behind every number is a person, a family, and a community struggling to survive and maintain dignity.”

Among the drivers behind those numbers is climate change. For Athena Peralta, director of the WCC Commission on Climate Justice and Sustainable Development, the hunger crisis belongs at the heart of the Ecumenical Decade of Climate Justice Action (2025–2034). “Caring for creation and ensuring that all people have access to sufficient and nutritious food . . . these are not separate commitments, but they are all part of the same commitment to justice,” she said.

The campaign offers congregations a way to act on that commitment. What makes it distinctive, said Mirko Tedesqui of World Vision International, is that churches themselves identify vulnerable families in their own neighbourhoods – “a mobilization of the community, by the community, and for the community.” It was piloted in El Salvador in 2024 and implemented across 10 Latin American countries in 2025. It runs through 2028 and reaches 13 countries this year across Latin America, Africa, and Asia, with the help of the Prayer and Action Against Hunger Coalition.

While the campaign works church by church, the open letter addresses governments. Cosigned by the highest leadership of the three organizations and published on 4 June, it was read in three parts by representatives of each. Participants were invited to carry the campaign toward World Food Day on 16 October and the 54th session of the Committee on World Food Security in Rome, later this year.

Give your loaves and fish” campaign landing page — action hub for congregations joining the campaign

Open letter to address hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition

WCC, Caritas, World Vision issue open letter against hunger (News Release, 4 June 2026)

Global Report on Food Crises 2026

Ecumenical Decade of Climate Justice Action

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The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 356 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. 

Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press
Our visiting address is:
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WCC NEWS: WCC signs joint civil society statement on AI in warfare

The World Council of Churches has signed a statement on AI in warfare that calls on tech companies and states to halt the use of AI systems in military kill chains, including AI decision-support systems, target generation systems, remote biometric surveillance, and multimodal AI models such as large language models.
Photo: Igor Sperotto / WCC
16 June 2026

The statement further urges that all other AI systems be designed, developed, and deployed in ways that do not cause, contribute to, or are otherwise linked to violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.

The statement, released 15 June, comes ahead of informal exchanges on “Artificial intelligence in the military domain and its implications for international peace and security,” being organized by the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs on 15-17 June in Geneva.

“Legal scholars and practitioners, technical experts, tech workers, UN special rapporteurs, and investigative journalists have long warned against the development and deployment of AI in warfare, given the heightened risk of international crimes,” notes the statement. “Despite claims by their proponents that AI tools are making warfare more effective, precise, or humane, real-world deployments indicate that AI is actually facilitating more violent, dehumanizing, and destructive methods of warfare."

The statement further notes that AI systems are simply not reliable enough to power fully autonomous weapons. “Actors who choose to deploy AI systems that are used to commit international crimes must be held criminally responsible,” reads the text. “Our concerns are not limited to the errors that may result from such systems malfunctioning but encompass how these systems fundamentally transform military operations.”

Companies have a responsibility to respect human rights, notes the statement. 

“As reflected in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, companies engaged in such conduct must immediately cease their contribution to harm,” reads the statement. “Even when a company is not causing or contributing to harm but is merely linked to it, it is expected to use its leverage to seek to bring an end to these violations.”

“The emergence of autonomous weapons systems able to operate without meaningful human control is one of the most challenging of the many moral issues that surround the growing impact of AI in our world and societies”, said Peter Prove, director of the WCC’s Commission of the Churches in International Affairs (CCIA). “That is why the WCC has already for some time been advocating for a pre-emptive ban on so-called ‘killer robots’”, he added, “and that is why we are joining this civil society appeal today.” 

Read the Joint statement on AI in warfare

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The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 356 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa.

Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press
Our visiting address is:
World Council of Churches
Chemin du Pommier 42
Kyoto Building
Le Grand-Saconnex CH-1218
Switzerland

WCC News: WCC calls for Russia to immediately end illegal, immoral invasion of Ukraine

World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay called for an immediate end to the Russian invasion of Ukraine after a massive wave of missiles and drones killed at least 10 people and injured more than 30. 
Cathedral in the monastery and cave complex Kyiv Pechersk Lavra (Dormition Cathedral), a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of Ukraine's most significant religious and cultural sites. Photo: Ivars Kupcis/WCC
15 June 2026

The wave of attacks also caused severe damage to the main cathedral of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra (Dormition Cathedral), a UNESCO World Heritage site where centuries of prayer, monastic witness, and the relics of saints dwell together. “Moreover, Russian aerial weapons reportedly struck high-rise residential buildings in nearly every district of the capital,” said Pillay. 

“The WCC calls upon all parties to exercise maximum restraint, to uphold the dignity of every human life, to respect and protect civilians, places of worship and cultural heritage, and to renew efforts toward a just and sustainable peace.”

Pillay also underscored the urgent need for dialogue, reconciliation, and an end to the cycle of violence. 

“Russia must stop these attacks immediately, and end its illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine now,” he said. “We call for full legal accountability for the perpetrators of all such criminal attacks on civilians, humanitarians, and civilian infrastructure.”

WCC Statement on Russia’s campaign of armed aggression against Ukraine

Global Prayer for Peace in Ukraine: “Light always triumphs over darkness” (WCC news release, 11 June 2026)

WCC renews call for an end to unconscionable violence of Russia’s escalating attacks on civilians in Ukraine (WCC news release, 18 May 2026)

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The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 356 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa.

Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press
Our visiting address is:
World Council of Churches
Chemin du Pommier 42
Kyoto Building
Le Grand-Saconnex CH-1218
Switzerland

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WCC NEWS: Global Fund gathering in Luxembourg underscores international solidarity in health

A high-level working lunch with Members of Parliament, organized in Luxembourg by Friends of The Global Fund Europe, acknowledged that the c...