WCC NEWS: WCC releases pastoral message on peace and healing in a time of conflict

The World Council of Churches Commission of the Churches on Health and Healing released a pastoral message entitled “Peace and Healing in a Time of Conflict: A Call for Reconciliation.” Photo: Marcelo Schneider/WCC 26 March 2026 The message notes that, across the world today, countless communities live under the shadow of war and conflict. “The scale of human suffering is staggering and still growing,” notes the message. “In 2024 alone, an estimated 160,000 people were killed in organised violence, while more than 123 million were forcibly displaced, the highest number in recorded history.” Millions more live with injuries, grief, and trauma, notes the message. “Yet numbers alone cannot convey the true weight of what is unfolding,” the text reads. “We face not only crises of violence, but crises of health, dignity, and humanity.” The message emphasizes that health is central to reconciliation, concord, and peace. “Conflict is not only a geopolitical failure but also a spiritual crisis: a breaking of sacred relationships and mutual accountability with each other,” reads the message. “Globally, an estimated 22% of people living in conflict-affected settings suffer from mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder—suffering that extends far beyond the individual and weakens the social fabric itself.” The message also notes another, quieter crisis spreading alongside the violence: the erosion of empathy and truth. “As suffering intensifies, many turn inward, consuming selective narratives that reduce complex realities to partisan slogans,” notes the text. “Compassion becomes conditional.” In this climate, the message continues, suffering of others is not only distant but also distorted, denied, or ignored. “This loss of empathy fragments our shared humanity, allowing injustice to persist and the unacceptable to become normal,” reads the text. “Our faith calls us to resist fragmentation.” The message further calls the church to stand with the vulnerable and displaced, speak truth to power, provide holistic healing, build bridges across division, and provide safe spaces where homes are lost. “The suffering is real. Let us allow ourselves to be moved by it,” the message concludes. "Together, let us choose the hard, necessary work of healing our fractured world.” Read the full letter See more

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 356 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches Chemin du Pommier 42 Kyoto Building Le Grand-Saconnex CH-1218 Switzerland