Press release

During Laudato Si’ Week 2023 – the week dedicated to Pope Francis’ encyclical letter Laudato Si’ – the Catholic Sisters of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG) launch a policy brief outlining nine recommendations to address the challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, with a particular focus on vulnerable people. UISG is an umbrella organisation for the leaders of Catholic women’s congregations, bringing together 1,900 members who represent over 600,000 Sisters worldwide.

These recommendations emerged from April’s Sister-Led Dialogue on the Environment, the first in a series of dialogues organised by the UISG initiative Sisters Advocating Globally, supported by the Global Solidarity Fund. The gathering took place in Rome on the 17th of April 2023, with the participation of representatives from Vatican institutions, embassies to the Holy See, UN bodies, international organisations, civil society and academia.

UISG’s nine recommendations are:

1. Economic action: advocate for a new, values-driven impetus for collective action, in order to build the financial infrastructure that can enable an economy of sustainable development.
2. Educational action: support institutions and initiatives that transmit knowledge, raise public awareness, and involve local actors in a sustainable manner.
3. Legislative and legal action: encourage governments and international organisations to mandate issues related to environmental sustainability, and legislate concrete measures to guarantee inclusivity.
4. Environmental and social action: emphasise the interconnectedness of environmental and social action as the only path to achieving social justice.
5. Religious engagement: harness the rootedness and reach of religious engagement to ensure the success of environmental initiatives.
6. Partnerships, institutionalisation and accreditation: Institutionalise women-led and faith-led capacity-building, and expand secular-religious partnerships with accredited national and international bodies.
7. Integrative dialogue: foster dialogue as an inclusive mechanism that can amplify marginalised voices, and ensure a leading role in global decision-making for local communities facing environmental challenges.
8. Media and the arts: channel the role of media and the arts in educating the public, changing the narrative on environmental breakdown, and focusing global attention on local issues.
9. Scientific research: utilise the potential of research and education to help both leaders and local communities to make informed decisions and plans for action.

Read the full press release

Read the Environment policy brief 2023

Visit the website of the UISG Project Sisters Advocating Globally 

For further information, please contact: Antonella Patete +39 339 2483 656