On 13 March 2025, during the 69th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women,  Professor Gabriella Gambino, Under-Secretary of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life and Head of the Holy See Delegation, issued a statement on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Fourth World Conference on Women and its outcome, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

Last week, in the framework of the 8th of February, feast of St. Josephine Bakhita, the Talitha Kum network organised, supported by WUCWO, a Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking. Young ambassadors of hope, such as Christelle Tambi from CWA UK, took part in the event, along with Margot and Mercè from the WUCWO secretariat, under the coordination of Maria Giovanna Ruggieri. We have joined this network because we cannot allow more people, many of them women, to continue to be victims of this painful reality.

The Week of Prayer Against Human Trafficking has just started, an initiative promoted by the International Committee for the International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking (IDPHT) which we, as women of WUCWO, join. 

In late January, WUCWO was honoured to welcome the Hilton Foundation Board to our offices in Rome. During this meeting, Mónica Santamarina, President General, María Lía Zervino, Advisor to the Observatory, and Lia Beltrami, Producer and Director of In-Visibles, presented the results of the projects developed last year in collaboration with the World Women's Observatory (WWO) of WUCWO.

Sister Simona Brambilla (Vatican News)

On 6 January Pope Francis appointed Sister Simona Brambilla, former Superior General of the Consolata Missionary Sisters in Italy, as Prefect of the Dicastery for Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, of which she was Secretary as of 7 October 2023.

Institutional strengthening as a tool to contribute to the comprehensive care of migrant women in Mexico

As part of the activities around the project "Migrant women´s access to justice in Mexico", which is being carried out with the support of the Hilton Foundation, the World Women's Observatory (WWO) of the World Union of Catholic Women´s Organisations (WUCWO), along with the collaboration of Corporativa de Fundaciones and FORTA, launched an institutional strengthening accompaniment model for 16 organisations that work in various regions of Mexico providing direct assistance to migrant women and women in need of international protection.

WUCWO's General President, Monica Santamarina, on behalf of all the women who are part of WUCWO, participated in the symposium on conflict-related sexual violence, organised by the UK Embassy to the Holy See and Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) at the Jesuit Curia in Rome. At the event, Monica signed along with more than 450 faith leaders the Declaration of Humanity by Leaders of Faith and Belief, a manifesto to reaffirm the commitment of religious communities to fight sexual violence in conflict contexts.

On 26 and 27 October, Mónica Santamarina, President General, and Lavinia Rocchi Carrera, Secretary General, paid an official visit to WUCWO member organisations in the United Kingdom. During these days, Mónica had the opportunity to talk with some of the representatives of the member organisations, in order to learn first-hand about their challenges, achievements and local realities. This meeting served to strengthen ties, dialogue and explore ways in which WUCWO can support its members in the UK.

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.

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.

The President General of the World Union of Catholic Women's Organisations (WUCWO), Mónica Santamarina, was in New York at the end of March for the 68th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 68), where she participated in various events and meetings, together with Barbara Dowding, Regional Vice-President for North America, and Maribeth Stewart, WUCWO International Representative at the United Nations, New York. Among the various activities, WUCWO organised, with its Women's World Observatory (WWO), a side event sponsored by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation: