People who endured sexual abuse by Catholic clergy have voiced fresh optimism following their initial meeting with Pope Leo at the Vatican.
Gemma Hickey, who leads Ending Clergy Abuse, commented that the Pope's decision to meet with them so early in his leadership sent a strong message about his commitment to tackling the problem.
Global Strict Approach Pushed
The group is pushing for a global strict approach that would permanently remove any priest who confesses to or is found guilty of abusing a child. This policy has already been adopted in the United States.
The Pope recognized that there is "resistance in some parts of the globe" to this initiative, according to Hickey.
"Everyone was practical when we acknowledged that there is pushback," they stated.
Inherited Issue
The current pontiff, who took the role in May, has taken on this longstanding problem that has plagued the Church for many years.
Earlier attempts to address the problem included an historic meeting on child abuse within the Church and revisions to canon law to explicitly criminalize sexual abuse.
Personal Link
For Hickey, who prefers gender-neutral pronouns, the campaign for worldwide adoption of the measure is deeply meaningful. The Canadian activist shared they were victimized by a clergy member who was later transferred between various churches.
"Hopefully this will establish the direction for his leadership, because we want to collaborate with him," they stated. "Both sides share the common objective, we want to eliminate abuse by religious officials."
Historic Encounter
Multiple members of the coalition, which includes victims and supporters 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 religious leader "mostly listened to us," according to Hickey.
The pontiff was described as "quite empathetic" when listening to the account of a woman victimized at a Catholic residential school for Indigenous children in North America.
Hickey added the leader was "tender" about their own experience and appeared "very humble, funny, and approachable."
"Victims have consistently sought a seat at the table and I didn't feel like he was making empty promises," they commented. "I believed like he was sincere, practical, and very open and eager to collaborate with us."
Canon Law Changes
The organization is hoping that changes to canon law will enable the implementation of the strict approach worldwide.
They have spoken with specialists and gathered documents that they plan to present to the pontiff.
"He seemed engaged in reviewing it," they remarked.
Accountability Emphasized
A recent church-ordered report emphasized the "necessity of a efficient process for the stepping down and/or dismissal of Church leaders or personnel in cases of misconduct or failure to act."
The report also pointed out that victims repeatedly stressed the "critical requirement for bishops and senior officials to be held accountable for inaction and concealment."
Path Ahead
The representative shared they informed the Pope at the beginning of their discussion: "This represents as much a challenge for him to engage in a dialogue as it was for us."
After the meeting, Hickey voiced optimism for future change.
"We understand it's not something that's going to be resolved quickly, but at the end of the day, uniting and establishing a relationship and persisting to strengthen that bond is a move in the right direction," Hickey stated.
Hickey concluded that they shared with Pope Leo: "Even though it's a difficult period, I believe like we can alter how the story concludes - he valued that."
