People who endured sexual abuse by Catholic clergy have voiced fresh optimism following their first encounter with Pope Leo at the Vatican.
Gemma Hickey, who leads Ending Clergy Abuse, commented that the Pope's decision to meet with them so soon in his papacy sent a strong message about his commitment to addressing the issue.
Global Zero-Tolerance Approach Advocated
The group is advocating for a global strict approach that would permanently remove any clergy member who admits to or is proven of sexually abusing a child. This policy has been implemented in the United States.
The Pope acknowledged that there is "resistance in some parts of the globe" to this proposal, according to the representative.
"We were all being realistic when we acknowledged that there is resistance," they stated.
Legacy Challenge
The current pontiff, who assumed the role in spring, has taken on this longstanding problem that has haunted the Catholic Church for many years.
Previous efforts to address the problem included an unprecedented meeting on paedophilia within the Church and changes to church laws to explicitly criminalize sexual abuse.
Personal Link
For the representative, who uses they/them pronouns, the drive for global implementation of the policy is deeply meaningful. The North American activist revealed they were abused by a clergy member who was later transferred between different parishes.
"Hopefully this will establish the direction for his papacy, because we want to collaborate with him," Hickey stated. "We have the same goal, we want to end abuse by religious officials."
Significant Meeting
Multiple members of the organization, which represents victims and supporters from over thirty nations, met with the Pontiff in his official residence.
The meeting, initially planned for 20 minutes, extended to a sixty minutes, during which the Pope "mostly listened to us," according to Hickey.
The pontiff was described as "quite empathetic" when hearing the account of a woman abused at a Catholic residential school for native youth in North America.
They added the leader was "tender" about their personal experience and appeared "very humble, humorous, and very down to earth."
"Survivors have consistently sought a voice in discussions and I didn't perceive like he was making empty promises," they commented. "I felt like he was genuine, realistic, and receptive and keen to collaborate with us."
Church Regulations Changes
The group is hoping that revisions to canon law will facilitate the implementation of the strict approach worldwide.
They have spoken with experts and compiled documents that they plan to present to the pontiff.
"He seemed engaged in reviewing it," Hickey remarked.
Accountability Highlighted
A recently released church-ordered report highlighted the "importance of a streamlined protocol for the resignation and/or dismissal of Church leaders or personnel in cases of abuse or negligence."
The document also pointed out that survivors consistently emphasized the "urgent need for church leaders and major superiors to be held accountable for inaction and concealment."
Moving Forward
Hickey revealed they told the Pope at the start of their meeting: "This represents as much a risk for him to engage in a dialogue as it was for us."
After the meeting, Hickey expressed hope for progress.
"We realise it's not something that's going to happen overnight, but at the end of the day, uniting and establishing a relationship and persisting to strengthen that relationship is a step in the right direction," Hickey stated.
Hickey concluded that they told with Pope Leo: "Just because it's a dark chapter, I feel like we can change how the narrative concludes - he appreciated that."
