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World news in brief

by
13 December 2024

Sean Hawkey/Life on Earth

Women attend a meeting about microfinance supported by World Renew, Niger

Women attend a meeting about microfinance supported by World Renew, Niger

World Bank urged to work with faiths on green issues

THE World Council of Churches (WCC) has written to the World Bank requesting a meeting to “to discuss potential strategies for working together to accelerate the transition to clean energy and reduce fossil-fuel dependency in developing economies”. The letter, from the director of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, Peter Prove, acknowledges the bank’s commitment to a 45-per-cent increase in its total lending towards climate finance in 2025. “We believe this initiative is a beacon for international financial institutions and an important catalyst for a sustainable future for the world’s children.” But more could be done to align the bank with the target of limiting global warming to 1.5°, the letter says. “Faith communities can serve as partners and advocates for these efforts, working at grassroots levels to promote awareness and resilience.”

 

Cape Town Smyth review calls for evidence

A PANEL appointed by the Archbishop of Cape Town, Dr Thabo Makgoba, recently to review whether he and his diocese met their obligation to keep people safe in view of John Smyth’s presence (News, 22 November) has called for information from the public. The panel comprises Judge Ian Farlam, Dr Mamphela Ramphele, and Jeremy Gauntlett SC KC. Their terms of reference, published on Tuesday, are to “consider the findings and implications” of the Makin review, which reported that the C of E had notified the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA) in 2013 — or at any other time — of allegations of abuse by Smyth in the UK or Zimbabwe; that Smyth had become resident in South Africa; and establish whether these reports were received by ACSA, what, if anything, was done in response, and whether ACSA failed in its duty. The panel is also “to report on measures adopted by ACSA relating to Safe and Inclusive Church, and to make any recommendations”.

 

Priests targeted for violence in Mexico, report says

TEN Roman Catholic priests and one seminary student were murdered in Mexico during the six-year term of the former Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a report by Catholic Multimedia Centre (CCM), published on Monday, claims. Seven bishops and seven priests were violently attacked during the same period, but survived, it says. The authors of the report, Guillermo Gazanini Espinoza, Head of Information at CCM, and Fr Sergio Omar Sotelo Aguilar, CCM director, also document nearly 900 cases in which individuals associated with ministries of the RC Church were victims of extortion or threatened; plus 26 attacks on religious buildings during that period. The director of advocacy at Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Anna Lee Stangl, said: “It is of deep concern that attacks on priests and religious leaders spiked and have remained steadily high over the past three presidential administrations, with no real sign of improvement.”

 

Netherlands publishes booklets on Council of Nicaea

THE National Council of Churches in the Netherlands (NCCN) has announced a programme of events to mark the 1700th anniversary, in 2025 (News, 15 November), of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea — whose deliberations ultimately led to the adoption of the Nicene Creed. The NCCN has published a brochure, Seventeen Centuries, Council of Nicaea: Deliberating together, believing together, celebrating together, and a children’s prayer booklet. The general secretary of the NCCN, the Revd Coen Wessel, said: “We will start the year of remembrance with the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which also marks the anniversary of the Ecumenical Council.” An ecumenical lecture by the WCC president from Europe, the Revd Dr Susan Durber, is also planned on 16 May, in Utrecht, as well as a national ecumenical church service on 14 June, in Gouda.

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