WCC NEWS: Former Brazilian President Lula visits the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, all media

WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit welcomes former Brazilian
President Luiz Inácio da Silva at the Ecumenical Centre. Photos:
Ivars Kupcis/WCC

Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), received former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva, at the Ecumenical Centre on 6 March, in Geneva, Switzerland.

The WCC general secretary was accompanied by Rev. Dr Martin Junge, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation and Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri, WCC deputy general secretary, Rev. Dr Odair Pedroso Mateus, WCC director of Faith and Order.

Tveit welcomed Lula at the Ecumenical Centre and the discussion centred on current situation in Brazil, and problems and possibilities for global justice and peace.

Brazil's former president is visiting three countries in Europe from March 3 to 11, to exchange with political, trade union and religious leaders about social inequality. In Geneva meetings will include representatives from the World Council of Churches, Lutheran World Federation, ACT Alliance and World Communion of Reformed Churches.

The former president has been closely linked to the ecumenical work in the region and addressed the delegate body of the World Council of Churches' 9th Assembly in 2006 in Porto Alegre. The president thanked the WCC for its leadership in "the quest for a world at peace."

Lula was accompanied by a delegation.

The meeting in the Ecumenical Centre is a private meeting and no press conference or press briefing will take place.

WCC member churches in Brazil

Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace

CONIC

Lula's address to the Assembly in Porto Alegre 2006

Media contact:
WCC director of communication Marianne Ejdersten,
e-mail: mej@wcc-coe.org, mobile phone/WhatsApp: +41 79 507 63 63

WCC Communication Officer Xanthi Morfi,
e-mail: xanthi.morfi@wcc-coe.org, mobile phone/WhatsApp: +41 79 373 26 48

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 350 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 550 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway.

Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press
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