Message of the WUCWO President, María Lía Zervino

on the occasion of the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

Chain of women embracing against female genital mutilation

Girls between the ages of 4 and 14 are the main victims of this aberrant practice. According to the latest UN report, more than 4 million girls are at risk of female genital mutilation in 30 countries in 2020.

We thank Pope Francis for granting a private audience to the WUCWO authorities, María Lía Zervino and Andrea Ezcurra, servidoras, and Fr Gerard Whelan, SJ, who were received in his library on 10 January 2020. The meeting made it possible to express gratitude, on behalf of the 8 million members of our organisations, for the delicate and frequent attention the Holy Father gives to women, particularly the most vulnerable, throughout the world. 

The Mirabal sisters assassinated on 25 November 1960  in the Dominican Republic.

The time has come!

The World Union of Catholic Women’s Organisations today renews and increases its commitment to eliminate discrimination and violence against women (Dakar Resolution 2018).

The time has come! Men and women: it is urgent to become agents of cultural change.

WUCWO also attended the last briefing on the work of the Synod on Friday 25 October. The following participated:

- Bishop Joaquín Humberto Pinzón Güiza, I.M.C., vicar apostolic of Puerto Leguízamo-Solano, titular of Ottocio, Colombia;

- Bishop Evaristo Pascoal Spengler, O.F.M., bishop-prelate of Marajó, Brazil;

- Reverend Nicolau Nascimento de Paiva, coordinator of CAIC, the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil, Brazil;

- Reverend Fr. Miguel Heinz, S.V.D., president of Adveniat, Germany;

- Reverend Suora Inés Azucena Zambrano Jara, M.M.I., of the Missionary Sisters of Mary Immaculate and of Saint Catherine of Siena, Colombia;

- Dr. Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Dicastery for Communication;

- Fr. Giacomo Costa, S.J., secretary of the Commission for Information.

“The Amazon and Beyond. Integral Ecology, Multiple Vulnerabilities and Youthful Commitments” was the title of the seminar organised on October 18 by the newly set up Observatory of the faculty of Social Sciences of the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome in which WUCWO participated the seminar held during the current Special Synod for the Pan-Amazon Region aimed to deepen, inspire and open “transdisciplinary paths illuminating new ways of relating to God, to others and to the space around us” (Evangelii gaudium n.74).

On the occasion of the Special Assembly of the Synod for the Pan-Amazon Region, WUCWO together with Italian Azione Cattolica, the International Forum of Azione Cattolica and the Pio XI Foundation (School of Holiness of Azione Cattolica) organised an event on October 15 to discuss the theme "Witnesses and martyrs of the inculturation of faith in the Amazon".

WUCWO participates to the press conference, organised in the Holy See Press Office on October 3, of presentation of the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region, taking place in the Vatican’s New Synod Hall from 6 to 27 October 2019, on the theme: Amazonia: new paths for the Church and for integral ecology.

Her heartbreaking testimony invites you to look back at that long-suffering island, whose ordeal seems not to end.

The testimonies of the Cuban doctors in Venezuela, a few hours ago through a Colombian media, have highlighted the harassment suffered by the Maduro regime, which forced them to condemn those in need of health care to support the president and proclaim its "goodnesses". They have done this, outside, of course. While they were in Venezuelan territory, under the magnifying glass of both Cuban and Venezuelan governments, they had to keep their mouths shut.

On Friday, September  20, at 4pm, WUCWO participated to the presentation of  “Amazon: Common Home” that took place in the Marconi Room of the Vatican Radio.  “Amazon: Common Home” is a project that will unite institutions, associations, and congregations during the next Amazon Synod through more than 130 events organized in Rome from October 5 to 27.

From the 20th to the 23rd of August 2019, in Lindau, Germany, the 10th World Assembly of Religions for Peace took place, with more than 900 participants. Among them 98 religious representatives from Latin America and the Caribbean were present.

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