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The World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay has warmly welcomed President Biden’s decision of 14 January to remove Cuba from a list maintained by the U.S. Department of State that designates countries accused of supporting terrorism.

A WCC staff visit will take place from 12-21 January, aimed at empowering faith communities in Jamaica to take action on sexual and gender-based violence, racism, reparations, and climate justice.

The people of Haiti, suffering under severe economic and political crises, are the focus of a World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee statement. “We pray for God’s compassion for the people of this troubled land, and an answer to their cries,” reads the text.

As the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle this week is dedicated to the churches and people of the Caribbean, ambassadors and staff of various region’s Missions to the UN are joining the morning prayers organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC).

During a week of music, lectures, and dialogue, the World Council of Churches (WCC) played key roles in the Barbados Gospelfest which ran from 26 May to 2 June. Started in 1993, through the then-ministry of tourism in Barbados, the Barbados Gospelfest has evolved over the past 30 years as one of the Caribbean’s premiere gospel music festivals.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) will lead a “Campaign of Hope” as part of the upcoming Barbados Gospelfest set to take place from 26 May to 2 June. This is the second year that the WCC will be part of the gospel music festival in Barbados.

World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay sent a pastoral letter to Haitian brothers and sisters whose lives are lived in a land with hatred, violence, and suffering. “Although we might be physically distant, we are close to you in heart, in the spiritual sense,” wrote Pillay. “We all are children of God. We belong to one family, as Jesus Christ himself said.”

With an intervention delivered by Max Weber, a student at the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, the World Council of Churches expressed deep concern for human rights in Haiti. 

In a visit to Cuba from 17-19 December, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay met with Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel at the Palacio de las Convenciones in Havana. “I was deeply impressed with our heart-to-heart meeting with the president of Cuba,” expressed Pillay.

In a sermon entitled “Being church today in a world in crisis,” offered at the Presbyterian Reformed Church of Cuba on 17 December, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay shared thoughts of hope and transformation.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay offered a lecture at University of Havana in Cuba on 19 December entitled “Christians, cry out for peace! The perils and promise of peace today.”

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay will visit Cuba from 17-19 December to reiterate WCC support for the churches and people in Cuba.

As part of the Barbados Gospelfest, Caribbean co-coordinator of the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network Rev. Dr Gordon Cowans offered a public lecture on 22 May, exploring the theme “Touching Lives of Persons With Disability: Freed to Simply Be.”

The upcoming Barbados Gospelfest, set for 21-28 May, will express churches’ affirmation and celebration of persons with disabilities in musical and other creative ways.