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Individuals who experienced abuse by church officials have expressed fresh optimism after their first encounter 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 dedication to addressing the problem.

Global Zero-Tolerance Approach Advocated

The group is advocating for a worldwide strict approach that would permanently remove any clergy member who admits to or is found guilty of sexually abusing a minor. This policy has been implemented in the United States.

The Pope acknowledged that there is "opposition in certain regions of the world" to this proposal, according to Hickey.

"We were all being realistic when we recognized that there is resistance," Hickey stated.

Legacy Issue

The new Pope, who took the role in spring, has taken on this longstanding problem that has plagued the Church for many years.

Earlier attempts to address the situation included an unprecedented meeting on paedophilia within the institution and changes to church laws to clearly outlaw abuse.

Deeply Felt Link

For the representative, who uses they/them pronouns, the drive for global implementation of the measure is personal. The Canadian advocate revealed they were abused by a priest who was subsequently transferred between different parishes.

"Hopefully this will set the tone for his leadership, because we aim to collaborate with him," they expressed. "Both sides share the same goal, we seek to end abuse by religious officials."

Significant Encounter

Multiple representatives of the organization, which includes survivors and supporters from more than 30 nations, met with the Pontiff in his official residence.

The meeting, initially planned for 20 minutes, extended to a full hour, during which the Pope "mostly listened to us," according to Hickey.

The Pope was characterized as "quite empathetic" when hearing the story of a female survivor victimized at a Catholic residential school for native youth in Canada.

Hickey noted the Pope was "compassionate" about their own story and appeared "very humble, funny, 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," they commented. "I believed like he was genuine, practical, and very open and keen to work with us."

Canon Law Changes

The organization is advocating that changes to canon law will facilitate the implementation of the strict approach worldwide.

They have consulted experts and compiled documents that they plan to present to the pontiff.

"He appeared engaged in reviewing it," they noted.

Responsibility Highlighted

A recent Vatican-commissioned document emphasized the "importance 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 document also noted that survivors repeatedly stressed the "critical requirement for church leaders and major superiors to be held accountable for negligence and concealment."

Path Ahead

The representative shared they informed the Pope at the beginning of their meeting: "This is as much a risk for him to participate in a conversation as it was for us."

After the encounter, they expressed optimism for progress.

"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 relationship is a step in the right direction," Hickey 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."