Individuals who endured sexual abuse by church officials have expressed renewed hope following their initial encounter with the new Pope at the Vatican.
Gemma Hickey, heading the anti-abuse organization, commented that the pontiff's decision to meet with them so soon in his leadership sent a strong message about his dedication to tackling the problem.
Global Strict Policy Pushed
The group is pushing for a global strict approach that would permanently remove any priest who admits to or is proven of abusing a minor. This policy has been implemented in the United States.
The Pontiff acknowledged that there is "opposition in some parts of the world" to this proposal, according to the representative.
"Everyone was practical when we acknowledged that there is resistance," they stated.
Inherited Challenge
The current pontiff, who took the role in spring, has taken on this persistent issue that has haunted the Church for decades.
Previous efforts to address the situation included an historic meeting on child abuse within the institution and changes to canon law to explicitly criminalize abuse.
Deeply Felt Connection
For the representative, who prefers they/them pronouns, the campaign for worldwide adoption of the measure is deeply meaningful. The Canadian advocate shared they were victimized by a priest who was subsequently transferred between various churches.
"Hopefully this will set the tone for his papacy, because we want to work with him," they expressed. "We have the same goal, we want to eliminate abuse by religious officials."
Significant Encounter
Multiple members of the organization, which represents victims and supporters from over thirty nations, met with the Pope in his Vatican office.
The meeting, initially planned for a brief period, extended to a full hour, during which the Pope "mostly listened to us," according to the representative.
The Pope was characterized as "quite empathetic" when listening to the account of a female survivor victimized at a church-run institution for Indigenous children in Canada.
They noted the leader was "tender" about their personal story and appeared "modest, humorous, and very down to earth."
"Survivors have long wanted a seat at the table and I didn't perceive like he was giving us lip service," Hickey stated. "I felt like he was sincere, practical, and receptive and eager to collaborate with us."
Church Regulations Changes
The organization is advocating that revisions to church regulations will facilitate the adoption of the strict approach globally.
They have spoken with specialists and gathered documents that they will submit to the pontiff.
"He seemed interested in looking at it," they remarked.
Responsibility Highlighted
A recent Vatican-commissioned document emphasized the "necessity of a streamlined protocol for the stepping down and/or removal of Church leaders or staff in cases of abuse or failure to act."
The report also pointed out that survivors repeatedly stressed the "urgent need for church leaders and major superiors to be made responsible for negligence and cover-up."
Path Ahead
The representative shared they informed the Pope at the beginning of their meeting: "This is as much a risk for him to engage in a dialogue as it was for us."
Following the encounter, they expressed hope for progress.
"We realise it's not something that's going to happen overnight, but at the conclusion, coming together and building a relationship and continuing to strengthen that relationship is a move in the right direction," they commented.
They concluded that they shared with Pope Leo: "Just because it's a difficult period, I feel like we can alter how the story concludes - he valued that."
