People who endured sexual abuse by church officials have voiced renewed hope after their initial meeting with Pope Leo at the Vatican.
Gemma Hickey, who leads Ending Clergy Abuse, commented that the pontiff's decision to engage with them so soon in his leadership spoke volumes about his commitment to addressing the issue.
Worldwide Zero-Tolerance Approach Pushed
The group is pushing for a global zero-tolerance policy that would defrock any clergy member who confesses to or is proven of sexually abusing a child. This policy has already been adopted in the United States.
The Pope acknowledged that there is "resistance in certain regions of the globe" to this initiative, according to the representative.
"We were all being realistic when we recognized that there is pushback," they stated.
Legacy Issue
The new Pope, who assumed the role in May, has taken on this longstanding issue that has haunted the Church for decades.
Previous efforts to resolve the problem included an unprecedented summit on child abuse within the institution and revisions to church laws to explicitly criminalize abuse.
Deeply Felt Link
For the representative, who uses gender-neutral pronouns, the drive for global implementation of the policy is personal. The Canadian activist shared they were victimized by a clergy member who was subsequently transferred between various churches.
"Hopefully this will establish the direction for his leadership, because we aim to collaborate with him," they stated. "We have the common objective, we want to eliminate abuse by religious officials."
Significant Meeting
Multiple members of the organization, which includes survivors and supporters from over thirty countries, engaged with the Pontiff in his Vatican office.
The meeting, originally scheduled for a brief period, lasted 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 abused at a Catholic residential school for native youth in Canada.
Hickey added the leader was "compassionate" about their own experience and appeared "modest, humorous, and very down to earth."
"Survivors have long wanted a voice in discussions and I didn't perceive like he was giving us lip service," they commented. "I felt like he was genuine, practical, and very open and keen to collaborate with us."
Canon Law Changes
The organization is hoping that changes to canon law will enable the adoption of the zero-tolerance policy globally.
They have consulted specialists and compiled materials that they plan to submit to the pontiff.
"He seemed interested in looking at it," Hickey remarked.
Responsibility Highlighted
A recent Vatican-commissioned document emphasized the "importance of a efficient process for the stepping down and/or removal of religious officials or personnel in cases of abuse or failure to act."
The report also pointed out that survivors repeatedly stressed the "urgent need for church leaders and senior officials to be made responsible for inaction and concealment."
Moving Forward
Hickey revealed they informed the Pope at the start of their discussion: "This represents as much a risk for him to engage in a conversation as it was for us."
After the meeting, Hickey voiced optimism for future change.
"We understand it's not something that's going to happen overnight, but at the end of the day, uniting and building a connection and continuing to strengthen that bond is a step in the correct path," they commented.
They added that they shared with the pontiff: "Just because it's a dark chapter, I believe like we can alter how the narrative concludes - he valued that."
