Women of the entire universe, whether Christian or non-believing, you to whom life is entrusted at this grave moment in history, it is for you to save the peace of the world! This was Paul VI’s Message to Women at the close of the Second Vatican Council. The year is 1965, the date, 8 December, the feast of the Immaculate Conception. Decades later, in such troubled times as ours; we reread these words with modesty.

The Second Vatican Council began on 11 October 1962. This was a spiritual, historical, and epoch-making event, to which 23 women -10 religious and 13 laywomen- were admitted for the first time as auditors.