The French cleric who heads the main grouping of Anglican, Orthodox and Protestant Christian denominations in Europe has proposed the creation of a Council of European Churches that would also include the Roman Catholic Church.

As Cubans absorbed the news that communist leader Fidel Castro had stepped down, Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque, prepared to welcome Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, as he visits the country.

The compassionate actions of human beings, not their claims against each other, reflect the will of God and the transforming power of Jesus the Prince of Peace, say the heads of the churches in Jerusalem this Christmastide.

A unique gathering of high level church leaders starting on Tuesday 6 November 2007 near Nairobi, Kenya, features the broadest range of Christian traditions ever represented at a global meeting, says its organisers.

A second round of dialogue between World Council of Churches (WCC) members and Pentecostals has been inaugurated in Baar, Switzerland. A group of Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and Pentecostal Christians met to continue work begun in 2005.

Delegates at the Third European Ecumenical Assembly in Sibiu, Romania, concluded their weeklong gathering on 9 September 2007 with a call to the churches of Europe to deepen their support for migrants and other victimised minority groups.

Representatives of Europe's main Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican churches say they hope a six-day ecumenical assembly in the Romanian city of Sibiu will give a new impetus to the movement for Christian unity - and enable them to meet today's challenges.

Sharing bread and wine is not just an odd church ritual, says Simon Barrow. It is an embodied symbol of a new world coming – one in which we need to be radically changed if we are going to be part of the solution not part of the problem.

In a move that may raise questions for those who believe, on secular and religious grounds, in a clear distinction between religion and the state, Christian ministers in Northern Ireland are accompanying police patrols in tough areas.

Christian Aid emergency staff in South Asia are working with local partner organisations to co-ordinate its response, after the worst floods in years hit a large swathe of northern India, Bangladesh and Nepal.