People who experienced abuse by church officials have voiced renewed hope following their first meeting with the new Pope at the Holy See.
Gemma Hickey, who leads the anti-abuse organization, commented that the Pope's choice to engage with them so soon in his leadership spoke volumes about his commitment to addressing the issue.
Global Zero-Tolerance Policy Pushed
The organization is advocating for a global strict approach that would permanently remove any clergy member who confesses to or is found guilty of sexually abusing a child. This approach has already been adopted in the United States.
The Pontiff acknowledged that there is "resistance in some parts of the world" to this proposal, according to the representative.
"Everyone was practical when we acknowledged that there is resistance," Hickey remarked.
Inherited Challenge
The new Pope, who assumed the role in spring, has inherited this persistent problem that has plagued the Catholic Church for many years.
Previous efforts to address the problem included an historic summit on paedophilia within the institution and revisions to church laws to clearly outlaw abuse.
Personal Link
For the representative, who prefers gender-neutral pronouns, the campaign for worldwide adoption of the measure is deeply meaningful. The North American activist shared they were victimized by a priest who was subsequently transferred between various churches.
"We trust this will set the tone for his papacy, because we want to work with him," they stated. "We have the common objective, we want to end clergy abuse."
Significant Encounter
Seven members of the coalition, which represents victims and advocates from more than 30 nations, met with the Pope 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 pontiff was described as "quite empathetic" when listening to the account of a female survivor victimized at a church-run institution for native youth in Canada.
Hickey noted the leader was "compassionate" about their personal story and appeared "very humble, funny, and very down to earth."
"Victims have consistently sought a seat at the table and I didn't feel like he was making empty promises," they commented. "I felt like he was genuine, realistic, and receptive and keen to work with us."
Church Regulations Reforms
The group is advocating that revisions to church regulations will facilitate the implementation of the strict approach globally.
They have spoken with experts and gathered materials that they plan to present to Pope Leo.
"He appeared interested in looking at it," Hickey remarked.
Accountability Highlighted
A recently released church-ordered report emphasized the "importance of a streamlined protocol for the resignation and/or removal of religious officials or personnel in cases of misconduct or failure to act."
The report also pointed out that survivors consistently emphasized the "urgent need for church leaders and major superiors to be made responsible for negligence and cover-up."
Moving Forward
The representative shared they informed the pontiff 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 meeting, they expressed hope for progress.
"We realise it's not something that's going to happen overnight, but at the end of the day, coming together and building a relationship and persisting to build that bond is a move in the right direction," they stated.
Hickey concluded that they shared with the pontiff: "Even though it's a dark chapter, I feel like we can alter how the narrative concludes - he valued that."
