This year's WUCWO Day will be commemorated in a special way: WUCWO women are summoned to a private audience with Pope Francis on 13 May 2023 in the Vatican.

This will be a milestone in the rich history of WUCWO, this possibility given to us is the fruit of God’s tenderness towards us. Pope Francis will address a message to us that we are to listen to personally and then pass on to all Catholic women around the world.

The International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking takes place every year on February 8th, the day in which we celebrate the liturgical memory of St. Bakhita, the Sudanese nun who as a child had the dramatic experience of being kidnapped and enslaved and became the universal symbol of the Church's commitment against trafficking.

It is promoted by the International Unions of Superiors and Superiors General. The coordination of the network of partners and adherents is entrusted to Talitha Kum, the international network founded by the UISG and committed against trafficking in persons.

“Journeying in dignity” is the theme of the 9^th Edition of the International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking, celebrated on the 8^th of February 2023.

The passion for evangelisation. 

Dear friends,

The passion for evangelisation, that means, apostolic zeal, is a vital dimension for the Church, tells us the Pope in one of his last Wednesday catechesis. It seems important to me, with the grace of the Holy Spirit and following the pontifical magisterium, to deepen this aspect of WUCWO’s purpose, which is to promote the co-responsibility of women in evangelisation.

Happy and fruitful Year 2023! 

St. John XXIII told the women of WUCWO: "Dear daughters: great are your responsibilities in today's world, which expects from you the light of your faith, the ardour of your hope and the zeal of your charity! May the extent of your influence be in proportion to the hopes it awakens!" (Audience of 3^rd May 1961).

WUCWO women bid farewell to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI with deep gratitude!

Walking around Rome, looking at the window displays, visiting the churches, contemplating the cribs and attending prayer meetings, I came across a phrase that led me to reflect on the meaning of Christmas. This advertising phrase says “All you need is make-up”. I asked myself then, is this really what I need to live fully as God wants when he is born in our midst?

Welcome, protect, promote and integrate walking towards Assisi 2023.

Dear friends:

Days ago I was at the presentation of the autobiographic book of a woman who spent 30 years risking her life to create a space in which the victims of war and conflicts were protected. There I heard again the four verbs that Pope Francis gave us to address the problem of migrants and refugees: welcome, protect, promote and integrate. In the prayer of this morning, spontaneously arose inside of me a prayer that sounded like this:

Towards the General Assembly 2023 with Francis and Clare. 

Dear friends:

We started on the 1^st of November 2022 the registration for the General Assembly. Our motto is: “Women of WUCWO: artisans of human fraternity for world peace”. Two great saints: Francis and Clare, lead us by the hand to Assisi 2023, from 14-20 May and to the private audience with Pope Francis, on Saturday 13^th May, in Rome.

Photograph courtesy of Don MacKinnon 

From 7 to 10 October 2022, under the title “Women Builders of Peace in a Church which Goes Forth” WUCWO organised the third meeting with Women from the Middle East and the Mediterranean, in order to make known the reality of women in this Region and the work that some organisations are doing. More than 120 women from 33 countries participated.