Trauma and bitterness are among the challenges Sri Lankan churches must face in promoting peace and reconciliation as the island nation is in the middle of an intense war, a World Council of Churches delegation has learnt.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has said greed is the root cause of the current economic crisis and he has called on Christians and Muslims to work together to decide upon a fairer system of borrowing and lending.

There is a "gradual retreat of neoliberalism" in the region, according to participants in a Latin America and Caribbean ecumenical Christian consultation to examine the links between poverty, wealth and ecology.

The World Council of Churches' (WCC) general secretary, the Rev Dr Samuel Kobia has said that "one of the greatest problems facing the world today is religious extremism" - and that all faiths must be fully engaged in tackling it.

The World Council of Churches along with some Christian world communions, the World Evangelical Alliance and the Roman Catholic Church are expecting some 50 church leaders and experts at a high-level Christian-Muslim dialogue in Switzerland.

As the global food crisis continues to unfold and impact on the poorest, World Council of Churches general secretary the Rev Dr Samuel Kobia has called on international institutions and governments to move into swift action.

Amidst rapid social and political changes in Eastern and Central Europe, leading representatives of theological institutions in the region gathered in Romania recently to seek more mutual cooperation and development.

The executive committee of the World Council of Churches has used the opportunity of its latest gathering in Switzerland to maintain its active concern with many of the world's trouble spot and most pressing humanitarian issues.

The UN Liaison Office of the World Council of Churches and Mennonites have co-sponsored an international dialogue between some 300 religious leaders and political figures - including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The WCC has honoured a former general secretary, Philip Potter, a Methodist from the West Indies who helped the churches take a high profile role in the struggle against apartheid and white minority regimes in southern Africa.