People who endured abuse by Catholic clergy have voiced renewed hope following their first encounter with the new Pope at the Holy See.
The board president, heading Ending Clergy Abuse, stated that the Pope's decision to meet with them so soon in his leadership spoke volumes about his dedication to tackling the issue.
Global Zero-Tolerance Policy Pushed
The group is pushing for a worldwide strict approach that would permanently remove any priest who admits to or is found guilty of sexually abusing a minor. This policy has already been adopted in the US.
The Pope recognized that there is "resistance in certain regions of the world" to this proposal, according to the representative.
"Everyone was practical when we acknowledged that there is pushback," they remarked.
Inherited Issue
The new Pope, who took the role in spring, has taken on this persistent problem that has haunted the Church for many years.
Earlier attempts to resolve the problem included an historic meeting on paedophilia within the institution and changes to canon law to explicitly criminalize sexual abuse.
Personal Connection
For the representative, who uses gender-neutral pronouns, the campaign for worldwide adoption of the measure is personal. The Canadian activist shared they were victimized by a clergy member who was subsequently moved between various churches.
"Hopefully this will set the tone for his papacy, because we aim to collaborate with him," they expressed. "We have the common objective, we want to eliminate abuse by religious officials."
Historic Encounter
Multiple members of the organization, which includes victims and supporters from over thirty nations, met with the Pope in his official residence.
The meeting, initially planned for 20 minutes, lasted to a sixty minutes, during which the religious leader "primarily heard to us," according to Hickey.
The Pope was described as "very understanding" when hearing the account of a female survivor victimized at a Catholic residential school for Indigenous children in Canada.
They noted the leader was "compassionate" about their own experience and appeared "very humble, funny, and approachable."
"Survivors have consistently sought a seat at the table and I didn't feel like he was making empty promises," Hickey commented. "I felt like he was genuine, realistic, and receptive and keen to work with us."
Canon Law Reforms
The organization is advocating that changes to church regulations will enable the adoption of the strict approach worldwide.
They have spoken with experts and gathered materials that they plan to submit to the pontiff.
"He appeared engaged in looking at it," Hickey remarked.
Responsibility Highlighted
A recent Vatican-commissioned document emphasized the "necessity of a streamlined protocol for the stepping down and/or dismissal of religious officials or staff in cases of misconduct or failure to act."
The report also pointed out that survivors repeatedly stressed the "critical requirement for bishops and major superiors to be made responsible for negligence and concealment."
Moving Forward
Hickey shared they told the pontiff at the start of their meeting: "This represents as much a challenge for him to participate in a dialogue as it was for us."
After the encounter, they voiced optimism for progress.
"We realise it's not something that's going to be resolved quickly, but at the conclusion, uniting and building a connection and persisting to build that relationship is a move in the correct path," Hickey stated.
Hickey added that they shared with Pope Leo: "Just because it's a difficult period, I believe like we can change how the story ends - he valued that."
