On Wednesday, January 22, 2025, Pope Francis met with the Hilton Foundation Board of Directors to lift up their support of Catholic sisters around the world. He highlighted the significant impact of the Catholic Sisters initiative — the largest funder of sisters worldwide — and emphasized the crucial need to invest in the education and training of sisters, enabling them to continue their vital missions of aiding those most in need.
The Vatican News reports on the meeting, noting that a significant part of the Pope’s welcome address focused on the Foundation’s support for women religious, through the formation of younger sisters and the care of elderly sisters. Recalling the Foundation’s collaboration with Vatican offices to enhance the professionalism and outreach of sisters, the Pope highlighted the urgent need for the Church to invest in the education and training for this vital mission.
Your Foundation has shown how such generosity and commitment can transform the lives of those who find themselves in situations of vulnerability. The service you freely offer in the fields of education, health, refugee assistance and the fight against poverty is a concrete testimony of love and compassion. Do not forget this word: compassion, “to suffer with”. God is compassionate; he draws close and suffers with us. Compassion is not throwing money into the hands of another without looking them in the eyes. No. Compassion is drawing close and “suffering with”. Do not forget the word: compassion.
Your founder, Conrad Nicholson Hilton, bequeathed you his dream, which continues to inspire the Foundation’s projects. Among these is one that you have consistently promoted: that of supporting women religious. Conrad Hilton held religious Sisters in high regard; in his will, he asked the Foundation to support them in their mission of serving the poorest and the least of our brothers and sisters.