People who endured sexual abuse by church officials have voiced renewed hope after their first meeting with Pope Leo at the Vatican.
Gemma Hickey, who leads Ending Clergy Abuse, commented that the pontiff's decision to meet with them so early in his leadership sent a strong message about his commitment to tackling the issue.
Worldwide Zero-Tolerance Policy Advocated
The organization is advocating for a worldwide zero-tolerance policy that would defrock any priest who admits to or is proven of abusing a child. This approach has already been adopted in the United States.
The Pope recognized that there is "opposition in some parts of the world" to this initiative, according to Hickey.
"Everyone was practical when we recognized that there is pushback," Hickey stated.
Inherited Challenge
The current pontiff, who took the position in spring, has inherited this longstanding issue that has haunted the Church for many years.
Previous efforts to resolve the situation included an historic summit on child abuse within the Church and changes to canon law to explicitly criminalize sexual abuse.
Personal Connection
For Hickey, who uses they/them pronouns, the campaign for worldwide adoption of the policy is personal. The Canadian advocate shared they were victimized by a priest who was later moved between various churches.
"Hopefully this will establish the direction for his papacy, because we want to work with him," Hickey expressed. "We have the common objective, we seek to eliminate clergy abuse."
Historic Meeting
Multiple representatives of the coalition, which represents victims and supporters from more than 30 countries, engaged with the Pontiff in his official residence.
The meeting, initially planned for 20 minutes, extended to a sixty minutes, during which the Pope "primarily heard to us," according to the representative.
The Pope was characterized as "very understanding" when hearing the account of a woman abused at a Catholic residential school for Indigenous children in North America.
Hickey noted the leader was "compassionate" about their personal experience and appeared "very humble, humorous, and very down to earth."
"Victims have long wanted a seat at the table and I didn't feel like he was giving us lip service," they stated. "I felt like he was sincere, realistic, and receptive and keen to collaborate with us."
Church Regulations Changes
The organization is advocating that revisions to canon law will enable the adoption of the strict approach worldwide.
They have spoken with experts and compiled documents that they will present to Pope Leo.
"He seemed engaged in looking at it," Hickey noted.
Accountability Emphasized
A recent church-ordered document highlighted the "necessity of a efficient process for the stepping down and/or removal of Church leaders or personnel in cases of misconduct or negligence."
The document also noted that survivors repeatedly stressed the "urgent need for church leaders and senior officials to be made responsible for inaction and concealment."
Path Ahead
The representative revealed they told the Pope at the start of their discussion: "This is as much a risk for him to participate in a dialogue as it was for us."
Following the encounter, they voiced hope for future change.
"We understand it's not something that's going to happen overnight, but at the conclusion, coming together and building a connection and continuing to build that relationship is a move in the right direction," Hickey stated.
They concluded that they told with the pontiff: "Just because it's a dark chapter, I feel like we can alter how the story concludes - he valued that."
