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Ecumenical News International
Year to mark Calvin's 500th anniversary to be launched in Geneva
October 31, 2008
Geneva (ENI). A year of events to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the birth of Protestant reformer Jean Calvin is being launched in Geneva, a cradle of the Protestant Reformation. "I hope the legacies of Jean Calvin will be a source of renewal and inspiration as churches increase their commitment to Christian unity and justice for all God's people and for the environment," said the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, president of the International Patronage Committee of the Calvin Year and president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. The Protestant reformer, often known in the anglophone world as John Calvin, was born on 10 July 1509 in Noyon, northern France, but he is known worldwide for his role in the Protestant Reformation in Geneva, a once independent city-state which became part of Switzerland in 1815.