People who endured abuse by church officials have expressed fresh optimism following their first encounter with the new Pope at the Vatican.
The board president, who leads Ending Clergy Abuse, stated that the Pope's decision to engage with them so soon in his leadership spoke volumes about his commitment to addressing the issue.
Global Zero-Tolerance Policy Advocated
The organization is pushing for a worldwide strict approach that would defrock any priest who admits to or is proven of sexually abusing a minor. This policy has been implemented in the US.
The Pope acknowledged that there is "opposition in certain regions of the world" to this initiative, according to the representative.
"We were all being realistic when we recognized that there is resistance," Hickey stated.
Inherited Challenge
The current pontiff, who took the position in May, has taken on this longstanding issue that has plagued the Church for decades.
Previous efforts to resolve the situation included an historic summit on child abuse within the institution and changes to church laws to explicitly criminalize sexual abuse.
Deeply Felt Link
For Hickey, who uses gender-neutral pronouns, the drive for global implementation of the measure is personal. The North American activist shared they were abused by a priest who was later transferred between various churches.
"We trust this will establish the direction for his leadership, because we aim to work with him," Hickey expressed. "We have the common objective, we seek to end abuse by religious officials."
Historic Encounter
Multiple representatives of the organization, which represents survivors and supporters from more than 30 nations, met with the Pontiff 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 Hickey.
The pontiff was characterized as "quite empathetic" when hearing the story of a woman victimized at a Catholic residential school for Indigenous children in North America.
Hickey noted the leader was "compassionate" about their own experience and seemed "very humble, humorous, and very down to earth."
"Victims have consistently sought a seat at the table and I didn't feel like he was making empty promises," they stated. "I believed like he was sincere, practical, and very open and eager to collaborate with us."
Church Regulations Reforms
The group is hoping that changes to canon law will enable the adoption of the strict approach worldwide.
They have consulted experts and gathered documents that they plan to submit to Pope Leo.
"He appeared engaged in reviewing it," Hickey remarked.
Responsibility Highlighted
A recently released church-ordered report emphasized the "necessity of a efficient process for the resignation and/or removal of Church leaders or staff in cases of abuse or negligence."
The document also noted that victims repeatedly stressed the "critical requirement for church leaders and major superiors to be made responsible for negligence and cover-up."
Path Ahead
Hickey shared they informed the pontiff at the start of their meeting: "This is as much a risk for him to engage in a conversation as it was for us."
After the encounter, they expressed hope 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 relationship and persisting to build that relationship is a move in the correct path," they commented.
Hickey added that they shared with the pontiff: "Just because it's a difficult period, I believe like we can alter how the narrative concludes - he appreciated that."
