Vatican assembles women to discuss impact of poverty, war

Published: 2005-10-28

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- To discuss the impact of poverty and war on women and women's contributions to development and peace, the Vatican assembled an international group of women. The Oct. 28-29 seminar at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace included only three male speakers, including Cardinal Renato Martino, council president, who welcomed the 77 participants. "We will stop to look at the face of today's women," he said. "Much more than the face of men, in many parts of the globe, theirs is a face marked by misery, poverty, exploitation, violence and the lack of any elementary respect for the basic rights of the human person." The 17 women who were scheduled to address the seminar included government officials from Africa, Europe and Latin America, U.N. officials, scholars, educators and women directly involved in serving refugees, people living with AIDS and women who had been trafficked.

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