People who endured sexual abuse by Catholic clergy have voiced fresh optimism after their initial meeting 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 early in his papacy sent a strong message about his commitment to tackling the problem.
Worldwide Zero-Tolerance Policy Pushed
The group is pushing for a global strict approach that would permanently remove any clergy member who admits to or is found guilty of sexually abusing a child. This approach has already been adopted in the United States.
The Pope acknowledged that there is "opposition in certain regions of the globe" to this proposal, according to Hickey.
"Everyone was practical when we recognized that there is resistance," they remarked.
Legacy Challenge
The new Pope, who took the role in May, has inherited this longstanding issue that has haunted the Catholic Church for many years.
Earlier attempts to resolve the situation included an historic meeting on child abuse within the institution and revisions to church laws to explicitly criminalize sexual abuse.
Deeply Felt Link
For the representative, who uses they/them pronouns, the drive for worldwide adoption of the policy is personal. The North American advocate revealed they were victimized by a clergy member who was subsequently transferred between various churches.
"We trust this will set the tone for his papacy, because we want to collaborate with him," they stated. "Both sides share the common objective, we want to end clergy abuse."
Historic Meeting
Seven members of the coalition, which includes survivors and advocates from over thirty countries, met with the Pontiff in his official residence.
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 Pope was described as "very understanding" when hearing the account of a woman victimized at a church-run institution for Indigenous children in North America.
Hickey noted the leader was "compassionate" about their own story 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," Hickey commented. "I believed like he was genuine, practical, and receptive and keen to collaborate with us."
Church Regulations Reforms
The group is advocating that revisions to church regulations will facilitate the adoption of the zero-tolerance policy globally.
They have consulted specialists and gathered documents that they plan to submit to the pontiff.
"He appeared engaged in reviewing it," they remarked.
Accountability Highlighted
A recently released Vatican-commissioned document highlighted the "importance of a efficient process 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 made responsible for negligence and concealment."
Moving Forward
Hickey shared they told the Pope at the start of their meeting: "This is as much a risk for him to participate in a conversation as it was for us."
Following the meeting, Hickey 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 building a relationship and continuing to strengthen that bond is a step in the right direction," they stated.
They added that they shared with the pontiff: "Even though it's a dark chapter, I believe like we can change how the story concludes - he valued that."
