People who endured sexual abuse by Catholic clergy have voiced fresh optimism after their initial meeting with Pope Leo at the Vatican.
The board president, heading Ending Clergy Abuse, stated that the pontiff's decision to meet with them so soon in his papacy sent a strong message about his commitment to tackling the issue.
Worldwide Zero-Tolerance Approach Advocated
The organization is pushing for a worldwide zero-tolerance policy that would permanently remove any priest who confesses to or is proven of sexually abusing a minor. This approach has already been adopted in the United States.
The Pope recognized that there is "resistance in certain regions of the globe" to this initiative, according to the representative.
"We were all being realistic when we recognized that there is pushback," they remarked.
Legacy Challenge
The new Pope, who assumed the role in May, has inherited this longstanding issue that has plagued the Catholic Church for many years.
Earlier attempts to address the situation included an unprecedented meeting on child abuse within the Church and revisions to canon law to explicitly criminalize sexual abuse.
Deeply Felt Connection
For the representative, who uses gender-neutral pronouns, the drive for worldwide adoption of the policy is personal. The North American advocate shared they were abused by a priest who was later transferred between various churches.
"Hopefully this will establish the direction for his leadership, because we want to collaborate with him," Hickey stated. "We have the same goal, we want to end abuse by religious officials."
Historic Meeting
Multiple members of the coalition, which represents survivors and supporters from over thirty nations, met with the Pope in his Vatican office.
The meeting, originally scheduled for a brief period, lasted to a sixty minutes, during which the Pope "primarily heard to us," according to the representative.
The Pope was described as "very understanding" when hearing the story of a woman abused at a Catholic residential school for Indigenous children in Canada.
Hickey added the leader was "compassionate" about their personal story and appeared "modest, humorous, and approachable."
"Victims have consistently sought a seat at the table and I didn't feel like he was making empty promises," Hickey stated. "I believed like he was sincere, practical, and very open and keen to collaborate with us."
Canon Law Reforms
The group is hoping that revisions to canon law will facilitate the adoption of the strict approach worldwide.
They have spoken with specialists and gathered materials that they will submit to Pope Leo.
"He appeared engaged in looking at it," they noted.
Responsibility Emphasized
A recently released church-ordered document emphasized the "necessity of a streamlined protocol for the stepping down and/or removal of Church leaders or staff in cases of misconduct or negligence."
The report also noted that survivors repeatedly stressed the "urgent need for bishops and major superiors to be made responsible for negligence and concealment."
Moving Forward
The representative revealed they informed the pontiff at the start of their meeting: "This is as much a challenge for him to engage in a dialogue as it was for us."
After the encounter, Hickey expressed optimism for progress.
"We realise it's not something that's going to happen overnight, but at the end of the day, uniting and building a connection and persisting to build that bond is a step in the right direction," they stated.
They concluded that they shared with Pope Leo: "Even though it's a difficult period, I feel like we can change how the story concludes - he valued that."
