Individuals who endured abuse by church officials have voiced renewed hope following their first encounter with Pope Leo at the Holy See.
Gemma Hickey, heading Ending Clergy Abuse, commented that the pontiff's decision to engage with them so soon in his leadership spoke volumes about his commitment to tackling the issue.
Global Zero-Tolerance Approach Pushed
The organization is pushing for a worldwide zero-tolerance policy that would permanently remove any priest who confesses to or is found guilty of sexually abusing a child. This approach has already been adopted in the United States.
The Pontiff recognized that there is "resistance in certain regions of the world" to this proposal, according to the representative.
"We were all being realistic when we recognized that there is resistance," Hickey remarked.
Inherited Challenge
The new Pope, who assumed the position in May, has taken on this persistent issue that has haunted the Church for many years.
Previous efforts to address the situation included an unprecedented summit on paedophilia within the Church and changes to church laws to explicitly criminalize sexual abuse.
Deeply Felt Link
For Hickey, who prefers gender-neutral pronouns, the campaign for worldwide adoption of the measure is personal. The North American activist shared they were abused by a priest who was later transferred between different parishes.
"Hopefully this will establish the direction for his leadership, because we want to work with him," Hickey stated. "Both sides share the same goal, we seek to eliminate clergy abuse."
Significant Encounter
Multiple representatives of the coalition, which includes survivors and advocates from over thirty countries, met with the Pope in his Vatican office.
The discussion, initially planned for 20 minutes, lasted to a sixty minutes, during which the Pope "primarily heard to us," according to the representative.
The Pope was characterized as "quite empathetic" when listening to the account of a woman victimized at a Catholic residential school for native youth in Canada.
Hickey added the Pope was "compassionate" about their personal story and seemed "modest, humorous, and very down to earth."
"Victims have consistently sought a seat at the table and I didn't feel like he was making empty promises," Hickey stated. "I felt like he was genuine, realistic, and very open and eager to work with us."
Church Regulations Changes
The group is hoping that revisions to church regulations will enable the adoption of the strict approach globally.
They have spoken with experts and gathered documents that they plan to submit to Pope Leo.
"He seemed interested in reviewing it," they remarked.
Accountability Emphasized
A recently released church-ordered report highlighted the "importance of a streamlined protocol for the resignation and/or dismissal of religious officials or personnel in cases of abuse or failure to act."
The report also noted that survivors repeatedly stressed the "urgent need for bishops and senior officials to be made responsible for negligence and concealment."
Path Ahead
Hickey shared they informed the Pope at the start of their meeting: "This is as much a challenge for him to engage in a dialogue as it was for us."
Following the encounter, Hickey expressed hope for progress.
"We understand it's not something that's going to be resolved quickly, but at the conclusion, coming together and establishing a relationship and persisting to strengthen that relationship is a move in the right direction," Hickey commented.
Hickey concluded that they told with Pope Leo: "Even though it's a dark chapter, I feel like we can change how the story ends - he appreciated that."
