People who endured sexual abuse by church officials have expressed fresh optimism following their first encounter with Pope Leo at the Holy See.
Gemma Hickey, who leads the anti-abuse organization, commented that the Pope's decision to engage with them so early in his leadership spoke volumes about his commitment to tackling the issue.
Worldwide Strict Policy Pushed
The group is pushing for a global zero-tolerance policy that would defrock any clergy member who confesses to or is found guilty of sexually abusing a child. This policy has been implemented in the United States.
The Pope recognized that there is "opposition in certain regions of the world" to this proposal, according to Hickey.
"Everyone was practical when we acknowledged that there is pushback," Hickey stated.
Legacy Issue
The current pontiff, who took the role in spring, has inherited this longstanding issue that has plagued the Catholic Church for decades.
Earlier attempts to address the problem included an unprecedented meeting on child abuse within the Church and changes to canon law to explicitly criminalize abuse.
Deeply Felt Link
For Hickey, who prefers gender-neutral pronouns, the drive for worldwide adoption of the measure is personal. The Canadian activist revealed they were victimized by a clergy member who was later transferred between various churches.
"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."
Significant Meeting
Multiple representatives of the organization, which represents victims and supporters from over thirty countries, engaged with the Pontiff in his Vatican office.
The discussion, originally scheduled for 20 minutes, lasted to a sixty minutes, during which the religious leader "mostly listened to us," according to the representative.
The pontiff was described 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 leader was "tender" about their personal story and seemed "very humble, humorous, 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 felt like he was genuine, realistic, and very open and keen to work with us."
Church Regulations Changes
The group is hoping that changes to church regulations will facilitate the adoption of the zero-tolerance policy globally.
They have spoken with experts and compiled documents that they will present to the pontiff.
"He appeared engaged in reviewing it," Hickey noted.
Accountability Emphasized
A recent church-ordered document highlighted the "importance of a efficient process for the stepping down and/or dismissal of religious officials or staff in cases of abuse or failure to act."
The document also noted that survivors consistently emphasized the "urgent need for church leaders and senior officials to be made responsible for negligence and concealment."
Path Ahead
Hickey shared they told the Pope at the beginning of their meeting: "This is as much a risk for him to engage in a dialogue as it was for us."
After the encounter, they expressed optimism for progress.
"We realise it's not something that's going to happen overnight, but at the conclusion, uniting and building a connection and persisting to strengthen that relationship is a move in the correct path," they commented.
They added that they told with Pope Leo: "Just because it's a difficult period, I believe like we can change how the narrative ends - he valued that."
