Pax Christi International Honours Women Worldwide

In recognition of International Women's Day, Pax Christi International have shared messages from their Secretary General, Martha Inés Romero, celebrating the women of Pax Christi, followed by a reflection from their Co-President, Sr Wamuyu Wachira (IBVM), on the urgent need to support women facing violence and injustice.

Honouring the women who build peace with hope and nonviolence - Martha Inés Romero

For Pax Christi International, hope and active nonviolence are powerful forces, especially in a world where injustice, violence, and marginalisation persist. Now more than ever, we need Hope and Nonviolence!

Today, we honour the women who have enriched our movement in countless ways - whether in their local communities or on the global stage. With love and dedication, they have worked tirelessly to uncover the root causes of conflict and to denounce its consequences.

Their invaluable efforts have helped pave the way for gender-equal policies, strengthened networks and campaigns to end violence - whether gender-based, structural, or caused by war - and transformed conflicts into opportunities for social cohesion. They have empowered vulnerable women to defend their rights, healed communities, fostered reconciliation, and cared for themselves, others, and all of Creation.

We remain committed to transforming deep-seated inequalities, defending women's rights, amplifying the voices of marginalised women, youth, and girls, and challenging all forms of violence and discrimination. We do so by building peace, mobilising for justice, and raising our voices - through action, song, and dance!

Dedication to all women suffering different forms of violence - Sr Wamuyu Wachira (IBVM)

WE CELEBRATE YOU, OUR SISTERS. WE WALK WITH YOU WITH HOPE, THIS JOURNEY OF PAIN

God will never forget you and knows your pain. You are engraved on the palms of God's hands (Is; 49:15-16)

As we celebrate the International Women's Day, this year 2025, let us remember those women among us that are experiencing different forms of violence. We remember in a special way the women who today are fleeing their countries among them, the women of the Democratic Republic of Congo especially in Goma and Bukavu, Sudan, Palestine/Israel, Myanmar, Syria, Yemen, Ukraine/Russia and Peru. To you all, women, across the globe, who are excluded and have become targets of abuse and all forms of violence, - deprived of dignity, trafficked from one country to another, treated as a 'foreigner' in your own land, experiencing different forms of abuse in your own countries, are targeted and killed just because you are a 'woman', we stand in solidarity with you.

We salute you today; with outstretched arms we reach out to you, to embrace you and assure you of our support both in word and deed - To you, our sisters who have been numbed by pain, anguish, fear and anxiety of deadly wars; eagerly waiting for the dawn of a new day full of hope, we accompany you.

We promise to journey with you, advocate with and for you, to reject these deplorable wars that have deprived you of your dignity as women, destroyed and killed the children you have tenderly nurtured and torn your families apart. As we watch you suffer, we are touched by your resilience and refusal to be crushed, to retaliate or to use violence. Through this, you have taught us the importance of loving and protecting life at all cost. As you gather together, in low tones, sharing your experiences as you prepare meals in open spaces surrounded by now rubbles that once sheltered you, we are learning what true 'sisterhood' is. You are indeed, our heroines.

To you our beloved sisters, we in unison, say, "We love you! We are thinking and praying for you in a very special way today! We feel your pain! We anoint you with oil of gladness! Stay strong and do not be afraid, for God who created you, unique as you are, is close to you and feels your crushed spirit. God walks with you in this painful journey, more so these weeks of Lent and will indeed raise you up, you will have a new spirit recreated in you. In profound silence, we take a moment to hold you, our beloved sisters, in our hearts, outstretch our arms to embrace you once again and say a prayer of healing with and for you. We unite with you in your losses, in your tears, fears, anxiety and dreams of a better tomorrow.

As we watch you suffer, we are challenged, to learn lessons from the Africa proverb that 'war is not porridge'[1] for us to rejoice or gather together about'.

Thus, this year of jubilee and the Lenten season, we strive to reject all forms of violence through choosing the power of love in action. Together, let us continue 'building bridges for tomorrow' bringing with us, you, our sisters in this journey of hope.

[1] Translated from Gikuyu community, Kenya, 'Mbaara ti ucuru' - porridge (a traditional beverage used when people are together) -used to discourages people gathering together to engage in wars/violence.