People who experienced abuse by church officials have voiced renewed hope after their initial encounter with Pope Leo at the Vatican.
Gemma Hickey, heading the anti-abuse organization, stated that the Pope's choice to engage with them so early in his leadership sent a strong message about his commitment to addressing the problem.
Worldwide Zero-Tolerance Policy Pushed
The organization is advocating for a worldwide strict approach that would defrock any priest who confesses to or is proven of abusing a child. This policy has already been adopted in the US.
The Pope acknowledged that there is "opposition in certain regions of the globe" to this proposal, according to Hickey.
"Everyone was practical when we acknowledged that there is resistance," they remarked.
Legacy Challenge
The new Pope, who assumed the role in spring, has inherited this longstanding problem that has haunted the Church for decades.
Previous efforts to resolve the problem included an unprecedented meeting on paedophilia within the institution and revisions to canon law to explicitly criminalize abuse.
Personal Link
For Hickey, who uses gender-neutral pronouns, the campaign for global implementation of the policy is deeply meaningful. The North American activist revealed they were abused by a clergy member who was subsequently moved between various churches.
"Hopefully this will set the tone for his leadership, because we want to collaborate with him," Hickey stated. "Both sides share the common objective, we seek to eliminate clergy abuse."
Significant Encounter
Multiple representatives of the coalition, which includes victims and supporters from more than 30 countries, engaged with the Pope 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 female survivor victimized at a Catholic residential school for native youth in Canada.
Hickey added the leader was "compassionate" about their own experience and appeared "very humble, funny, and very down to earth."
"Survivors have consistently sought a voice in discussions and I didn't perceive like he was giving us lip service," they stated. "I believed like he was sincere, realistic, and very open and eager to collaborate with us."
Canon Law Changes
The group is advocating that revisions to canon law will enable the adoption of the zero-tolerance policy worldwide.
They have consulted experts and compiled materials that they will submit to Pope Leo.
"He seemed engaged in looking at it," they remarked.
Responsibility Highlighted
A recent church-ordered report highlighted the "importance of a efficient process for the stepping down and/or dismissal of religious officials or personnel in cases of misconduct or failure to act."
The document also noted that victims consistently emphasized the "urgent need for church leaders and senior officials to be made responsible for inaction and concealment."
Path Ahead
The representative shared they informed the pontiff at the beginning of their meeting: "This is as much a risk for him to participate in a conversation as it was for us."
After the meeting, they voiced optimism for future change.
"We realise it's not something that's going to be resolved quickly, but at the conclusion, coming together and establishing a relationship and persisting to build that relationship is a step in the right direction," Hickey stated.
They added that they told with Pope Leo: "Just because it's a dark chapter, I feel like we can change how the narrative concludes - he valued that."
