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The World Council of Churches (WCC in English, Consiglio ecumenico delle Chiese CEC in Italian, Conseil Œcuménique des Eglises COE in French) is a fellowship of churches which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour according to the scriptures, and therefore seek to fulfil together their common calling to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The WCC brings together churches, denominations and church fellowships in more than 110 countries and territories throughout the world, representing over 500 million Christians and including most of the world's Orthodox churches, scores of Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist and Reformed churches, as well as many United and Independent churches. The Catholic Church is not an effective member of the WCC, but participates in meetings as an "observer" and is a full member of the Commission. The WCC headquarters are in Switzerland in Geneva, in Rome there is the Union of Methodist and Waldensian Churches (Evangelical Methodist Church), one of the two ecclesial communities that are part of the Council.

The historical roots of the World Council of Churches are found in student and lay movements of the 19th century, the 1910 Edinburgh world missionary conference, and a 1920 encyclical from the (Orthodox) Synod of Constantinople suggesting a "fellowship of churches" similar to the League of Nations. Leaders representing more than 100 churches voted in 1937-38 to found a World Council of Churches, but its inauguration was delayed following the outbreak of the second world war. When the WCC came into being at the First Assembly in 1948, there were 147 member churches. At the end of 2013, the membership stood at 345 churches. Predominately Protestant and Western in its earliest years, the WCC's profile and identity evolved during the 1960s with the influx of many Orthodox churches from the East and newly autonomous churches from formerly colonial regions in the South. The Second Vatican Council greatly improved relations between the WCC and Roman Catholics. The WCC holds its assemblies every six to eight years. The First Assembly took place at Amsterdam, Netherlands, in 1948, and the 10th Assembly was convened at Busan, Republic of Korea, in 2013.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is the broadest and most inclusive among the many organized expressions of the modern ecumenical movement, a movement whose goal is Christian unity. In its seventy years of activity the WCC has shown that it is possible to go beyond the disagreements, the conflicts and the deep conflicts caused by the different traditions and beliefs of faith, even if not all differences have been overcome. From the moment of its foundation, the Ecumenical Council encourages the Churches to promote interreligious dialogue and to mobilize together for peace, justice and the safeguarding of creation. Among his many commitments he fights for the reunification of Korea, the defense of human rights in Latin America and the Israeli-Palestinian dialogue; it is also active in the field of social commitment and humanitarian aid. In the past he distinguished himself for the fight against racism and apartheid in South Africa.

The largest Christian body, the Catholic Church, is not a member of the WCC, but has worked closely with the Council for more than three decades and sends observers to all major WCC conferences as well as to its Central Committee meetings and the Assemblies. The Roman Church also nominates 12 members to the WCC's Faith and Order Commission as full members. The pontiffs repeatedly emphasized this collaboration by going on an official visit to the CEC in Geneva (Paul VI in 1969, John Paul II in 1984, Francis in 2018).

Group works on some of the documents that have been discussed and adopted by the WCC, especially those on violence and religion, justice and peace in the Middle East, trafficking and trafficking in human beings, children's rights in the world, the fight against racism and apartheid