Individuals who endured abuse by church officials have expressed fresh optimism following their first encounter with the new Pope at the Holy See.
The board president, who leads Ending Clergy Abuse, stated that the Pope's decision to meet with them so early in his leadership spoke volumes about his commitment to addressing the issue.
Worldwide Strict Approach Advocated
The organization is advocating for a worldwide strict approach that would permanently remove any priest who confesses to or is found guilty of abusing a child. This policy has been implemented in the US.
The Pontiff acknowledged that there is "resistance in certain regions of the world" to this proposal, according to the representative.
"Everyone was practical when we recognized that there is pushback," they remarked.
Legacy Challenge
The current pontiff, who took the role in May, has taken on this persistent problem that has haunted the Church for decades.
Previous efforts to address the problem included an historic meeting on paedophilia within the institution and revisions to canon law to explicitly criminalize abuse.
Deeply Felt Connection
For the representative, who prefers gender-neutral pronouns, the drive for worldwide adoption of the policy is deeply meaningful. The North American advocate shared they were abused by a clergy member who was subsequently moved between different parishes.
"Hopefully this will set the tone for his leadership, because we want to work with him," they expressed. "We have the same goal, we seek to eliminate abuse by religious officials."
Significant Meeting
Multiple representatives of the organization, which includes victims and advocates from over thirty countries, engaged with the Pontiff in his Vatican office.
The meeting, initially planned for 20 minutes, lasted to a sixty minutes, during which the religious leader "mostly listened to us," according to the representative.
The Pope was characterized as "very understanding" when listening to the account of a female survivor abused at a Catholic residential school for native youth in Canada.
Hickey noted the leader was "compassionate" about their own story and seemed "very humble, funny, and approachable."
"Victims have consistently sought a voice in discussions and I didn't perceive like he was giving us lip service," they commented. "I felt like he was sincere, practical, and receptive and keen to work with us."
Church Regulations Reforms
The group is advocating that changes to church regulations will enable the implementation of the strict approach globally.
They have consulted experts and gathered documents that they will submit to the pontiff.
"He seemed interested in looking at it," Hickey noted.
Accountability Highlighted
A recently released church-ordered document highlighted the "importance of a streamlined protocol for the stepping down and/or removal of religious officials or personnel in cases of abuse or failure to act."
The document also pointed out that survivors repeatedly stressed the "urgent need for bishops and senior officials to be made responsible for inaction and cover-up."
Path Ahead
Hickey revealed they informed the Pope at the beginning of their meeting: "This represents as much a challenge for him to engage in a conversation 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 end of the day, coming together and establishing a relationship and persisting to strengthen that relationship is a move in the right direction," Hickey commented.
Hickey added that they shared with Pope Leo: "Just because it's a difficult period, I believe like we can change how the story concludes - he valued that."
