People who endured abuse by church officials have expressed renewed hope after their first meeting with Pope Leo at the Holy See.
The board president, who leads Ending Clergy Abuse, commented that the Pope's decision to engage with them so soon in his leadership sent a strong message about his dedication to tackling the issue.
Global Strict Approach Pushed
The organization is pushing for a worldwide zero-tolerance policy that would defrock any priest who confesses to or is proven of sexually abusing a child. This approach has already been adopted in the United States.
The Pontiff acknowledged that there is "opposition in certain regions of the world" to this initiative, according to the representative.
"We were all being realistic when we acknowledged that there is pushback," Hickey remarked.
Legacy Issue
The new Pope, who assumed the position in spring, has inherited this longstanding issue that has plagued the Catholic Church for many years.
Earlier attempts to address the problem included an historic summit on child abuse within the institution and changes to church laws to explicitly criminalize sexual abuse.
Deeply Felt Connection
For Hickey, who prefers gender-neutral pronouns, the drive for global implementation of the measure is deeply meaningful. The Canadian advocate revealed they were abused by a priest who was later transferred between different parishes.
"Hopefully this will set the tone for his leadership, because we aim to collaborate with him," Hickey expressed. "We have the common objective, we seek to end clergy abuse."
Historic Encounter
Multiple members of the organization, which represents survivors and advocates from over thirty countries, engaged with the Pope in his official residence.
The discussion, originally scheduled for 20 minutes, extended to a sixty minutes, during which the Pope "primarily heard to us," according to the representative.
The Pope was described as "quite empathetic" when listening to the story of a female survivor victimized at a Catholic residential school for native youth in North America.
They added the Pope was "compassionate" about their personal story and seemed "modest, funny, and approachable."
"Survivors have long wanted a voice in discussions and I didn't perceive like he was giving us lip service," they stated. "I believed like he was genuine, realistic, and receptive and eager to work with us."
Church Regulations Reforms
The organization is hoping that changes to church regulations will enable the implementation of the strict approach worldwide.
They have consulted experts and gathered documents that they plan to present to Pope Leo.
"He seemed interested in looking at it," they noted.
Responsibility Highlighted
A recently released Vatican-commissioned report emphasized the "importance of a efficient process for the stepping down and/or dismissal of Church leaders or staff in cases of abuse or negligence."
The report also noted that survivors repeatedly stressed the "urgent need for bishops and major superiors to be held accountable for negligence and concealment."
Path Ahead
The representative revealed they informed the Pope at the beginning of their meeting: "This is as much a risk for him to participate in a dialogue as it was for us."
Following the meeting, they expressed hope for progress.
"We understand it's not something that's going to be resolved quickly, but at the end of the day, coming together and building a relationship and continuing to build that relationship is a move in the correct path," they commented.
They concluded that they shared with the pontiff: "Even though it's a dark chapter, I believe like we can change how the narrative ends - he appreciated that."
