wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Johannes Rau - WCC tribute

["WCC Media" <Media@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches - News Release
Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 27/01/2006

WCC DEEPLY SADDENED BY DEATH OF FORMER GERMAN PRESIDENT JOHANNES RAU

It was with deep grief and distress that the World Council of Churches
(WCC) received the news of the passing away of Dr Johannes Rau, the former
president of Germany, "a friend of the ecumenical movement".

"A humanist and a practising Christian," Rau will be remembered for his
work during the 1950s for "the unification of Germany and reconciliation
with the victims of fascism and the Holocaust," WCC deputy general
secretary Georges Lemopoulos affirmed in a letter to WCC member churches
in Germany.

Rau addressed the WCC central committee meeting in Potsdam in February
2001. At that time, he reminded its members of "the need for churches and
religious organizations to play an important role in accompanying the
political decision-making process in order to ensure that it remain
faithful to the aspirations of the people".

Called "brother Johannes" by his friends for his engagement in the church,
Rau was "a friend of the ecumenical movement" and "recognized the
important role religion had come to play during the post-cold war period
in the civil and political life of most nations," the letter says.

Additional information: Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363
media@wcc-coe.org

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The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 347, in
more than 120 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian
traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but works
cooperatively with the WCC. The highest governing body is the assembly,
which meets approximately every seven years. The WCC was formally
inaugurated in 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its staff is headed by
general secretary Samuel Kobia from the Methodist church in Kenya.