An heroic African woman from the Sudan, Josephine Bakhita was kidnapped by slave traders when she was 9 years old and forced into slavery for almost 12 years. Pope Benedict XVI wrote of her in his encyclical letter “On Hope” as an example of God’s gift of hope. “To come to know God—the true God—means to receive hope.”

“I am thinking of the African Josephine Bakhita, canonized by Pope John Paul II. She was born around 1869—she herself did not know the precise date—in Darfur in Sudan. At the age of nine, she was kidnapped by slave-traders, beaten till she bled, and sold five times in the slave-markets of Sudan. Eventually she found herself working as a slave for the mother and the wife of a general, and there she was flogged every day till she bled; as a result of this she bore 144 scars throughout her life.

Finally, in 1882, she was bought by an Italian merchant for the Italian consul Callisto Legnani, who returned to Italy as the Mahdists advanced. Here, after the terrifying “masters” who had owned her up to that point, Bakhita came to know a totally different kind of “master”—in Venetian dialect, which she was now learning, she used the name “paron” for the living God, the God of Jesus Christ.

Up to that time she had known only masters who despised and maltreated her, or at best considered her a useful slave. Now, however, she heard that there is a “paron” above all masters, the Lord of all lords, and that this Lord is good, goodness in person.

She came to know that this Lord even knew her, that he had created her—that he actually loved her. She too was loved, and by none other than the supreme “Paron”, before whom all other masters are themselves no more than lowly servants. She was known and loved and she was awaited.
What is more, this master had himself accepted the destiny of being flogged and now he was waiting for her “at the Father’s right hand”. Now she had “hope” —no longer simply the modest hope of finding masters who would be less cruel, but the great hope: “I am definitively loved and whatever happens to me—I am awaited by this Love. And so my life is good.” Through the knowledge of this hope she was “redeemed”, no longer a slave, but a free child of God.

She understood what Paul meant when he reminded the Ephesians that previously they were without hope and without God in the world—without hope because without God. Hence, when she was about to be taken back to Sudan, Bakhita refused; she did not wish to be separated again from her “Paron”.

On 9 January 1890, she was baptized and confirmed and received her first Holy Communion from the hands of the Patriarch of Venice. On 8 December 1896, in Verona, she took her vows in the Congregation of the Canossian Sisters and from that time onwards, besides her work in the sacristy and in the porter’s lodge at the convent, she made several journeys round Italy in order to promote the missions: the liberation that she had received through her encounter with the God of Jesus Christ, she felt she had to extend, it had to be handed on to others, to the greatest possible number of people.

The hope born in her which had “redeemed” her she could not keep to herself; this hope had to reach many, to reach everybody.” Benedict XVI “Spes salvi” 2007

Josephine Bakhita died February 8, 1947 and was declared a saint in 2000. She is the patron saint of the Sudan and victims of human trafficking. For more on her, see here.

And this is from Passionists International on women’s rights:

UN Commission on the Status of Women: March 6-17, New York

This year’s focus:

• Priority theme: Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls
• Review theme: Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girlshttps://www.unwomen.org/en/csw/csw67-2023Read the Joint Statement of the Working Group on Girls, submitted by Passionists International here: (choose language) https://undocs.org/Home/Mobile?FinalSymbol=E%2FCN.6%2F2023%2FNGO%2F72&Language= E&DeviceType=Desktop&LangRequested=False *Official meetings of the Commission will be able to be viewed at: webtv.un.org For additional events, parallel to the UN meetings, see NGO-CSW Forum, below.NGO-CSW Forum – March 5-17, New York , In-person and VIRTUALParallel with UN CSW-67 Over the two weeks of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, NGO-CSW/NY organizes over 800 events during the Forum that inform, engage and inspire grass-roots efforts and advocacy needed to empower women and girls. This provides civil society organizations and activists an opportunity to engage in the processes and sessions of CSW without having UN-

The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. It meets yearly to evaluate progress, challenges, gaps, and to increase Member States’ commitments to achieving women’s and girls’ equality and empowerment, and its intersection with all of the Sustainable Development Goals.

 Events will take place both virtually and in- person outside of UN headquarters, and are open to all individuals and organizations. You can attend events and network with others who share your passion in working for women’s and girls’ equality. REGISTRATION is required. All necessary information can be found here: https://ngocsw.org/ngocsw67/