"The problems of today's world call for new solutions and the Church must be prepared to offer them at all levels. For this, it must have the valuable and essential, full and co-responsible collaboration of more than half of its members: women."

On 17 and 24 October, the World Union of Catholic Women's Organisations (WUCWO) organised two events in the context of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, as part of the ‘WUCWO’s School of Synodality’. Both meetings brought together several participants of the Synodal Assembly to share their reflections and experiences over the past two years, as well as some proposals for the future. 527 people from more than 50 countries participated in the two events, which were live streamed in 4 languages. These global meetings allow the synodality of the global Church to be lived also at the local level, bringing the synodal process and Assembly closer to the grassroots communities.

WUCWO’s School for Synodality invites you to participate in two webinars on October 17 and October 24, both from 1:30 to 3:00 pm (Rome time). 

The objective of the webinars is to hear from participants of the Synodal Assembly about their experiences over the past two years and their perspectives on what significant changes are needed for women to fully assume their mission of co-responsibility in this new synodal Church in mission to respond to the needs and challenges of today's world.

On October 10 2024, the Permanent Mission of the Holy See to FAO, IFAD, and WFP together with the Forum Roma of Catholic Inspired NGOs held a seminar to celebrate World Food Day 2024, entitled: The right to food, between deprivation and waste. It's time to act.

We live in an era rife with contradictions: while there are multiple ongoing food crises in various regions of the planet, we are also witnessing excessive food waste, and the use of food for other purposes. Wars, economic shocks, and extreme weather events have continued to force millions of people to grapple with hunger and malnutrition. The fact that there is enough food for everyone in today’s world, yet not everyone can access it, is paradoxical. The data we have available is far from encouraging. Therefore, the purpose of this meeting was to reflect on the importance of adopting a holistic approach that will allow us to produce appropriate solutions to tackle the imbalances present in the current food system.

The organisers of the event aim to support this process through an approach based on integral ecology, which is crucial for tackling global challenges in a systemic manner: viewing food injustice not only as a problem of food scarcity, but also as an issue of justice. It is extremely important to ensure that food systems are sustainable, resilient, and inclusive.

“It is a matter of adopting innovative solutions that can transform the way we produce and consume food for the well-being of our communities and of our planet, thus strengthening the capacity to recover and long-term sustainability” (Pope Francis, Message for World Food Day, 16 October 2020). 

On this occasion, WUCWO, who holds consultative status at FAO, presented its commitment to end world hunger. Through our resolution "GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS. CARE OF OUR COMMON HOME. CALL TO ECOLOGICAL CONVERSION" we are encouraging actions to solve the current global food crisis and restore equity in distribution and to promote ecological conversion. 

This event included the presentation of a Manifesto signed by all the member organisations of the Forum Roma, including WUCWO, through which we committed ourselves to continue to work to eradicate hunger and misery in the world with concrete and incisive measures.

A few days before the start of the second session of the Synod on Synodality, a webinar was held on 26 September, organised by the World Union of Catholic Women's Organisations (WUCWO), in the framework of the School of Synodality. The webinar counted with the participation of 260 persons from 49 countries. In this webinar, the results of the conversations in the Spirit involving 678 women from 78 countries were presented.

God Walks with His People 

110th World Day of Migrants and Refugees 

Dear friends of WUCWO:

"God walks with his people". What words so full of meaning and hope the Holy Father has proposed us to celebrate this 110th Day of Migrants and Refugees on September 29! These are words that, besides consoling us, are a fundamental part of the History of Salvation, from its origin, and which, in our days, are witnessed by the hundreds of thousands of people who set out towards a "promised land", ready to face the risks and inclemencies they will encounter along the way.

Webinar meeting of the WUCWO School for Synodality, which asks about the state of play of women's participation and visibility in the synodal journey, a few days before the opening of the second session of the Synod on Synodality.

Thursday, 26 September at 14.30 CEST

On 26 September, a webinar in 4 languages, entitled "Voices and Faces at the threshold of the Synod" will be held, promoted by the School for Synodality of the World Union of Catholic Women's Organisations.

Under this question, the text of the "Instrumentum Laboris" which will guide the work of the second session of the 16^th Ordinary General Assembly was published on Tuesday, 9 July 2024. It is neither a document of the Magisterium of the Church nor the report of a sociological survey; it does not offer formulations of operational indications of goals and objectives nor a complete theological vision. It does not seek to provide "ready-made answers", but rather to offer orientations and proposals for continuing to listen to the Spirit and respond to the challenge and demand of how the Church as a whole can respond to the need to be "synodal in mission".

The WUCWO School for Synodality: The mission of women in the Synodal Church has crossed oceans, reaching countries such as Mauritius, East Timor or Guatemala with a participation of 526 women and men from 74 countries. In preparation for the second session of the Assembly of the Synod of Synodality to be held in Rome in October of this year and in order to continue walking together with the whole Church, in the synodal process initiated in 2021, the World Union of Catholic Women's Organisations (WUCWO),  with its World Women's Observatory (WWO) and in collaboration with the Ignatian Encounter Ministry, organised a series of "Conversations in the Spirit" on 23 April, with a high level of participation.

The Instrumentum Laboris (Working Document) for the second session of the Synod on Synodality was presented on 9 July, the working document containing the contents and questions for the more than 450 participants in the second session of the Synod on Synodality, to be held from 2 to 27 July, was presented in the Vatican press room and by live broadcast.

WUCWO leaders lived a genuine synodal Board Meeting in Rome 

Dear friends,

With great joy I address this message to you after spending five intense and fruitful weeks of work in Rome. At the end of May, we successfully celebrated WUCWO’s 2024 in person Board meeting, with most of our Board members. We also had the presence of our International Representatives and the newly appointed members to the Board from Caritas Internationalis and the International Union of Superiors General (UISG).

On June 13, the Dicastery for the Laity organised the Annual Meeting of Moderators of Associations of the Faithful, Ecclesial Movements and New Communities, where it was possible to reflect on "The Challenge of Synodality for Mission", with the participation of more than 220 people from up to 95 Associations of the faithful from all over the world.