WCC hosts meeting of Church leaders ahead of Syria talks

(Vatican Radio) With the Geneva 2 talks on Syria scheduled for 22 January, some 30 church leaders from Syria and around the world gathered at the headquarters of the World Council of Churches in Geneva this week, calling for substantial action to be taken to end the armed conflict. Cardinal Jean Louis Tauran, head of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See's representative in Geneva were among the Catholic delegates at the meeting.

In a message to be delivered to Geneva 2 by Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN-Arab League joint representative for Syria, the group said there needed to be “immediate cessation of all armed confrontation and hostility within Syria”. The message said it’s vital to ensure that “all vulnerable communities in Syria and refugees in neighboring countries receive appropriate humanitarian assistance” and that “a comprehensive and inclusive process toward establishing a just peace and rebuilding Syria” should be developed.

Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC, said “There is no time to waste; enough people have died or had to leave their homes.” “As churches, he said, we speak with one voice.”

The church leaders and representatives came from the Middle East, the U.S, the Vatican, Russia and other European nations and included representatives from Syrian churches, the Middle East Council of Churches, the Roman Catholic Church, Orthodox, Protestants and Anglicans.

The meeting, called the Ecumenical Consultation on Syria, was held from 15^th to17th January. It was a follow up to a similar meeting in September 2013, sponsored by the WCC, which also included Brahimi and former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

The meeting was accompanied by an ecumenical prayer service held on the evening of 16^th January to express solidarity with the people of Syria and hopes for peace in the country.