People who endured sexual abuse by church officials have expressed renewed hope after their first meeting with the new Pope at the Holy See.
Gemma Hickey, who leads Ending Clergy Abuse, stated that the Pope's choice to engage with them so soon in his leadership spoke volumes about his commitment to addressing the issue.
Global Zero-Tolerance Policy Pushed
The group is advocating for a global zero-tolerance policy that would permanently remove any priest who confesses to or is proven of abusing a minor. This policy has already been adopted in the United States.
The Pope acknowledged that there is "opposition in some parts of the globe" to this proposal, according to Hickey.
"Everyone was practical when we acknowledged that there is pushback," Hickey remarked.
Legacy Challenge
The new Pope, who took the position in May, has taken on this longstanding issue that has plagued the Catholic Church for many years.
Earlier attempts to address the problem included an unprecedented summit on child abuse within the institution and revisions to church laws to explicitly criminalize abuse.
Deeply Felt Link
For the representative, who uses gender-neutral pronouns, the campaign for global implementation of the policy is deeply meaningful. The North American advocate shared they were victimized by a clergy member who was later transferred between different parishes.
"Hopefully this will establish the direction for his leadership, because we want to work with him," Hickey expressed. "We have the same goal, we seek to end abuse by religious officials."
Historic Meeting
Multiple members of the organization, which includes survivors and advocates from more than 30 countries, met with the Pope in his Vatican office.
The discussion, originally scheduled for 20 minutes, extended to a full hour, during which the religious leader "mostly listened to us," according to the representative.
The pontiff was characterized as "quite empathetic" when listening to the account of a female survivor abused at a church-run institution for Indigenous children in Canada.
They noted the leader was "compassionate" about their personal story and appeared "very humble, humorous, and approachable."
"Survivors have long wanted a seat at the table and I didn't feel like he was giving us lip service," Hickey stated. "I felt like he was genuine, realistic, and receptive and eager to work with us."
Church Regulations Changes
The group is advocating that changes to canon law will enable the adoption of the strict approach globally.
They have spoken with specialists and compiled materials that they will submit to Pope Leo.
"He appeared interested in looking at it," they remarked.
Accountability Emphasized
A recently released church-ordered document emphasized the "necessity of a streamlined protocol for the resignation and/or dismissal of Church leaders or personnel in cases of abuse or failure to act."
The document also noted that victims repeatedly stressed the "urgent need for church leaders and senior officials to be made responsible for inaction and concealment."
Moving Forward
The representative revealed they informed the Pope at the beginning of their meeting: "This represents as much a challenge for him to participate in a dialogue as it was for us."
Following the meeting, they expressed hope for progress.
"We understand it's not something that's going to happen overnight, but at the conclusion, uniting and building a connection and persisting to strengthen that relationship is a step in the right direction," they stated.
Hickey added that they shared with the pontiff: "Even though it's a difficult period, I feel like we can change how the story concludes - he valued that."
