Individuals who endured sexual abuse by church officials have expressed fresh optimism after their initial encounter with the new Pope at the Vatican.
The board president, who leads the anti-abuse organization, commented that the pontiff's decision to meet with them so soon in his leadership spoke volumes about his dedication to tackling the issue.
Global Strict Policy Pushed
The group is pushing 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 already been adopted in the US.
The Pontiff acknowledged that there is "resistance in certain regions of the globe" to this proposal, according to Hickey.
"Everyone was practical when we recognized that there is resistance," they stated.
Inherited Challenge
The current pontiff, who took the position in spring, has inherited this longstanding problem that has plagued the Catholic Church for decades.
Previous efforts to address the problem included an historic meeting on child abuse within the Church and changes to canon law to explicitly criminalize abuse.
Deeply Felt Link
For the representative, who prefers gender-neutral pronouns, the drive for global implementation of the policy is personal. The North American advocate shared they were victimized by a priest who was later transferred between different parishes.
"Hopefully this will set the tone for his papacy, because we want to collaborate with him," they expressed. "Both sides share the common objective, we want to eliminate clergy abuse."
Significant Meeting
Multiple representatives of the coalition, which includes survivors and supporters from more than 30 nations, met with the Pontiff in his Vatican office.
The meeting, initially planned for a brief period, extended to a sixty minutes, during which the Pope "mostly listened to us," according to the representative.
The Pope was characterized as "very understanding" when listening to the account of a woman victimized at a Catholic residential school for Indigenous children in North America.
They added the Pope was "compassionate" about their own story and seemed "very humble, humorous, and very down to earth."
"Victims have long wanted a seat at the table and I didn't feel like he was giving us lip service," Hickey stated. "I believed like he was genuine, realistic, and receptive and keen to work with us."
Church Regulations Changes
The group is hoping that changes to church regulations will enable the implementation of the strict approach globally.
They have spoken with experts and gathered materials that they will submit to the pontiff.
"He appeared engaged in reviewing it," they remarked.
Accountability Emphasized
A recently released church-ordered report emphasized the "importance of a efficient process for the stepping down and/or removal of religious officials or staff in cases of misconduct or failure to act."
The report also noted that victims repeatedly stressed the "urgent need for church leaders and senior officials to be held accountable for negligence and cover-up."
Moving Forward
Hickey revealed they informed the pontiff at the start of their meeting: "This is as much a challenge for him to participate in a dialogue as it was for us."
After the meeting, 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, coming together and establishing a relationship and persisting to strengthen that relationship is a move in the right direction," they stated.
They concluded that they shared with Pope Leo: "Even though it's a difficult period, I feel like we can change how the narrative concludes - he valued that."
