🔗 Share this article Victims of Church Clergy Sexual Abuse Voice Hope After Encounter with Pope Leo End Clergy Abuse Global representatives and survivors pose in Vatican Square following the meeting with Pope Leo People who experienced abuse by Catholic clergy have voiced renewed hope after their initial meeting with Pope Leo at the Vatican. The board president, heading Ending Clergy Abuse, commented that the Pope's decision to meet with them so early in his leadership spoke volumes about his commitment to addressing the issue. Global Strict Approach Advocated The organization 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 approach has already been adopted in the United States. The Pontiff acknowledged that there is "opposition in certain regions of the world" to this initiative, according to Hickey. "We were all being realistic when we acknowledged that there is pushback," they stated. Legacy Challenge The current pontiff, who took the role in May, has inherited this longstanding problem that has haunted the Catholic Church for decades. Previous efforts to resolve the situation included an historic meeting on child abuse within the Church and revisions to canon law to clearly outlaw abuse. Deeply Felt Connection For the representative, who uses gender-neutral pronouns, the campaign for global implementation of the measure is deeply meaningful. The Canadian advocate shared they were victimized by a priest who was later moved between various churches. "Hopefully this will establish the direction for his leadership, because we want to collaborate with him," they expressed. "We have the common objective, we seek to end clergy abuse." Significant Meeting Seven representatives of the coalition, which represents survivors and advocates from over thirty countries, met with the Pontiff in his Vatican office. The meeting, initially planned for 20 minutes, extended to a sixty minutes, during which the Pope "mostly listened to us," according to Hickey. The pontiff was described as "very understanding" when listening to the account of a woman victimized at a church-run institution for native youth in North America. Hickey noted the Pope was "compassionate" about their own story and seemed "very humble, humorous, and approachable." "Victims have long wanted a seat at the table and I didn't perceive like he was making empty promises," Hickey stated. "I felt like he was genuine, realistic, and receptive and eager to collaborate with us." Pope Leo leads religious service in the Vatican on 19 October Canon Law Changes The group is hoping that revisions to church regulations will enable the adoption of the zero-tolerance policy worldwide. They have consulted specialists and gathered materials that they plan to present to Pope Leo. "He seemed engaged in looking at it," they noted. Responsibility Highlighted A recently released church-ordered document highlighted the "importance of a efficient process for the stepping down and/or removal of religious officials or staff in cases of abuse or failure to act." The document also noted that survivors consistently emphasized the "critical requirement for bishops and major superiors to be made responsible for negligence and concealment." Moving Forward Hickey revealed they informed 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, they expressed optimism for progress. "We realise it's not something that's going to happen overnight, but at the conclusion, uniting and establishing a relationship and continuing to build that bond is a move in the right direction," Hickey commented. Hickey concluded that they shared with the pontiff: "Even though it's a difficult period, I believe like we can change how the story concludes - he valued that."