15 June 2021
Your Excellencies, On behalf of its worldwide constituency of 350 member churches in over 120 countries and territories, representing over 560 million people, the World Council of Churches conveys our prayerful best wishes for your meeting in Geneva on Wednesday 16 June 2021. From our headquarters in the same city in which you will meet, and from so many other cities, towns and villages around the world in which our member churches carry out their ministries, we will be watching and praying for signs of hope from your encounter.
Still struggling to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, the world faces even greater challenges ahead in addressing the wider social and economic impacts of the pandemic, and in confronting the existential threat posed by accelerating climate change to the intricate web of life on our planet. To this must be added the persistent and once again growing spectre of catastrophic nuclear conflict, particularly in the context of declining cooperation in arms control and increasing geo-political tensions.
As leaders of your two nations, with their particular histories and current roles in world affairs, you have a special responsibility for reducing tensions and achieving a stable and predictable relationship, so as to improve rather than diminish the prospects of effective global cooperation in addressing the multiple complex crises the world faces today. We pray that the God of life and peace will inspire and guide you in this essential task, for the good of your own peoples, for our interdependent human community, and for God’s precious and unique creation.
Respectfully, Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca
Acting General Secretary World Council of Churches
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