Individuals who endured sexual abuse by church officials have voiced fresh optimism after their first meeting with Pope Leo at the Holy See.
Gemma Hickey, who leads Ending Clergy Abuse, commented that the pontiff's decision to meet with them so soon in his papacy sent a strong message about his commitment to addressing the issue.
Global Strict Approach Advocated
The organization is advocating for a global strict approach that would permanently remove any priest who confesses to or is proven of abusing a child. This policy has already been adopted in the United States.
The Pontiff recognized that there is "resistance in some parts of the world" to this initiative, according to the representative.
"Everyone was practical when we acknowledged that there is pushback," Hickey remarked.
Legacy Challenge
The new Pope, who took the role in spring, has taken on this longstanding problem that has plagued the Catholic Church for many years.
Previous efforts to resolve the problem included an historic meeting on child abuse within the institution and changes to canon law to explicitly criminalize abuse.
Personal Link
For Hickey, who uses they/them pronouns, the drive for global implementation of the measure is personal. The North American advocate revealed they were abused by a priest who was subsequently transferred between various churches.
"Hopefully this will set the tone for his papacy, because we want to collaborate with him," Hickey expressed. "Both sides share the common objective, we want to eliminate abuse by religious officials."
Historic Meeting
Seven representatives of the organization, which represents victims and advocates from over thirty countries, met with the Pope in his official residence.
The discussion, originally scheduled for a brief period, extended to a sixty minutes, during which the Pope "mostly listened to us," according to the representative.
The pontiff was characterized as "quite empathetic" when hearing the story of a female survivor victimized at a church-run institution for native youth in North America.
Hickey added the leader was "compassionate" about their personal experience and appeared "modest, humorous, and approachable."
"Victims have long wanted a seat at the table and I didn't feel like he was making empty promises," they stated. "I believed like he was sincere, practical, and very open and eager to collaborate with us."
Canon Law Changes
The organization is hoping that revisions to church regulations will facilitate the implementation of the zero-tolerance policy globally.
They have consulted specialists and gathered documents that they plan to submit to Pope Leo.
"He appeared engaged in reviewing it," Hickey noted.
Accountability Highlighted
A recently released church-ordered document highlighted the "necessity of a efficient process for the stepping down and/or dismissal of religious officials or personnel in cases of misconduct or negligence."
The document also noted that victims repeatedly stressed the "critical requirement for bishops and major superiors to be made responsible for inaction and concealment."
Moving Forward
The representative revealed they informed the pontiff at the start of their meeting: "This represents as much a challenge for him to participate in a conversation as it was for us."
Following the encounter, they voiced hope for progress.
"We understand it's not something that's going to happen overnight, but at the end of the day, coming together and establishing a connection and persisting to strengthen that relationship is a step in the right direction," they commented.
They concluded that they told with Pope Leo: "Just because it's a dark chapter, I feel like we can change how the narrative ends - he valued that."
