Individuals who experienced abuse by church officials have voiced renewed hope after their initial meeting with the new Pope at the Holy See.
The board president, who leads Ending Clergy Abuse, commented that the Pope's choice to meet with them so early in his leadership spoke volumes about his commitment to tackling the issue.
Worldwide Zero-Tolerance Approach Pushed
The group is advocating for a global zero-tolerance policy that would permanently remove any priest who admits to or is found guilty of abusing a child. This approach has already been adopted in the US.
The Pontiff recognized that there is "opposition in certain regions of the world" to this initiative, according to Hickey.
"Everyone was practical when we acknowledged that there is pushback," they remarked.
Inherited Issue
The current pontiff, who took the role in spring, has inherited this longstanding problem that has plagued the Catholic Church for decades.
Earlier attempts to address the problem included an unprecedented meeting on child abuse within the Church 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 personal. The Canadian advocate shared they were abused by a priest who was subsequently transferred between different parishes.
"We trust this will establish the direction for his papacy, because we aim to work with him," Hickey expressed. "We have the common objective, we want to eliminate abuse by religious officials."
Historic Meeting
Seven members of the coalition, which includes victims and advocates from more than 30 countries, met with the Pontiff in his Vatican office.
The discussion, initially planned for 20 minutes, lasted to a sixty minutes, during which the religious leader "primarily heard to us," according to the representative.
The pontiff was characterized as "quite empathetic" when listening to the story of a woman victimized at a Catholic residential school for Indigenous children in North America.
They noted the leader was "compassionate" about their own experience and appeared "modest, humorous, and approachable."
"Survivors have long wanted a seat at the table and I didn't feel like he was giving us lip service," they stated. "I believed like he was genuine, realistic, and very open and keen to work with us."
Canon Law Changes
The group is hoping that changes to canon law will enable the adoption of the zero-tolerance policy globally.
They have consulted specialists and compiled documents that they will submit to the pontiff.
"He appeared engaged in reviewing it," they noted.
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 negligence."
The document also pointed out that victims repeatedly stressed the "critical requirement for church leaders and senior officials to be made responsible for negligence and concealment."
Path Ahead
The representative shared they informed the Pope 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 meeting, they voiced optimism for future change.
"We realise it's not something that's going to be resolved quickly, but at the conclusion, uniting and building a connection and continuing to strengthen that bond is a move in the right direction," they stated.
They concluded that they shared with the pontiff: "Just because it's a difficult period, I feel like we can alter how the narrative ends - he valued that."
