Representatives of churches worldwide have gathered at Geneva's St. Pierre Cathedral for a service of celebration to mark the 70th anniversary of the World Council of Churches.

There Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the Istanbul-based Archbishop of Constantinople urged continued efforts for unity, justice and peace.

"We celebrate a long common pilgrimage on the path to unity, Christian witness, and the commitment to justice, peace, and the preservation of creation," said the Bartholomew in his homily during the service on June 17 in in the Swiss city's historic Protestant cathedral.

Bartholomew was one of the founding members of the WCC, which was established with its headquarters in Geneva in 1948 to foster Christian unity with the memories of the Second World War strongly motivating its formation.

Today the WCC brings together 350 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 550 million Christians in over 120 countries. Ecumenical News.

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