Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), received former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva, at the Ecumenical Centre on 6 March, in Geneva, Switzerland.
The WCC general secretary was accompanied by Rev. Dr Martin Junge, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation and Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri, WCC deputy general secretary, Rev. Dr Odair Pedroso Mateus, WCC director of Faith and Order.
Tveit welcomed Lula at the Ecumenical Centre and the discussion centred on current situation in Brazil, and problems and possibilities for global justice and peace.
Brazil’s former president is visiting three countries in Europe from March 3 to 11, to exchange with political, trade union and religious leaders about social inequality. In Geneva meetings will include representatives from the World Council of Churches, Lutheran World Federation, ACT Alliance and World Communion of Reformed Churches.
The former president has been closely linked to the ecumenical work in the region and addressed the delegate body of the World Council of Churches’ 9th Assembly in 2006 in Porto Alegre. The president thanked the WCC for its leadership in “the quest for a world at peace.”
Lula was accompanied by a delegation.
The meeting in the Ecumenical Centre is a private meeting and no press conference or press briefing will take place.
WCC, oikoumene.org
