People who experienced abuse by church officials have voiced fresh optimism after their initial meeting with the new Pope at the Holy See.
The board president, who leads Ending Clergy Abuse, stated that the pontiff's decision to engage with them so soon in his leadership sent a strong message about his commitment to tackling the problem.
Global Zero-Tolerance Policy Pushed
The organization is advocating for a global strict approach that would permanently remove any priest who admits to or is found guilty of sexually abusing a minor. This policy has already been adopted in the United States.
The Pontiff acknowledged that there is "resistance in some parts of the world" to this initiative, according to Hickey.
"We were all being realistic when we recognized that there is resistance," they remarked.
Legacy Challenge
The new Pope, who took the position in spring, has inherited this longstanding issue that has plagued the Catholic Church for many years.
Earlier attempts to address the problem included an historic summit on child abuse within the Church and revisions to church laws to explicitly criminalize sexual abuse.
Personal Link
For the representative, who uses gender-neutral pronouns, the campaign for global implementation of the measure is deeply meaningful. The North American activist revealed they were victimized by a clergy member who was subsequently transferred between different parishes.
"Hopefully this will set the tone for his papacy, because we aim to work with him," they expressed. "We have the same goal, we want to eliminate abuse by religious officials."
Significant Meeting
Seven members of the organization, which represents victims and advocates from more than 30 countries, met with the Pontiff in his Vatican office.
The discussion, originally scheduled for 20 minutes, lasted to a sixty minutes, during which the Pope "primarily heard to us," according to the representative.
The pontiff was characterized as "very understanding" when hearing the account of a female survivor abused at a church-run institution for native youth in Canada.
They added the leader was "tender" 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 feel like he was giving us lip service," they commented. "I felt like he was genuine, realistic, and very open and eager to collaborate with us."
Canon Law Reforms
The group is advocating that changes to canon law will enable the adoption of the strict approach globally.
They have spoken with specialists and compiled materials that they plan to submit to the pontiff.
"He appeared engaged in reviewing it," Hickey remarked.
Responsibility Emphasized
A recently released Vatican-commissioned report highlighted the "necessity of a efficient process for the stepping down and/or removal of religious officials or personnel in cases of misconduct or failure to act."
The document also noted that survivors consistently emphasized the "critical requirement for bishops and senior officials to be made responsible for negligence and concealment."
Moving Forward
Hickey shared they informed the pontiff at the start of their discussion: "This represents as much a risk for him to engage in a conversation as it was for us."
After the meeting, they voiced hope for progress.
"We understand it's not something that's going to happen overnight, but at the conclusion, uniting and building a relationship and persisting to strengthen that relationship is a step in the right direction," they stated.
They concluded that they shared with the pontiff: "Just because it's a dark chapter, I believe like we can change how the narrative ends - he valued that."
