Tributes paid to Kofi Annan

THE World Council of Churches’ General Secretary, the Revd Dr Olaf Fykse Tveit, has given thanks for the life and work of the former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Anan, who died on Saturday, aged 80. He said: “He will be recalled as the leader who acted to unify and transform the United Nations. He was a liberator who, by force of his personality, inspired the political leaders and grass-roots movement to work for just peace in the world.” The current UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, said that Annan was “a guiding force for good”. Annan, the only black African to have held a top position at the UN, was in post from 1997 to 2006.

Archbishop hopeful about new Chilean Province

THE Archbishop of Hong Kong, the Most Revd Paul Kwong, who chairs the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), has completed a fact-finding visit with an ACC delegation to the diocese of Chile, currently part of the Anglican Church of South America, and has expressed his satisfaction that the Church there is “centred on Jesus and his mission, and develops a ministry that is completely centred on people and how to equip them in the gospel”. He said: “I think that if all goes well, Chile will be the 40th Province of the Communion and will enrich the Church, the life of the Anglican Communion, and I really want to see it.” The delegation will report to the ACC’s standing committee next month, and the Province could be in place by the end of the year, the ACNS reports.