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People who endured abuse by church officials have expressed fresh optimism following their first encounter with the new Pope at the Vatican.

The board president, who leads Ending Clergy Abuse, stated that the Pope's choice to meet with them so early in his leadership sent a strong message about his commitment to addressing the issue.

Worldwide Strict Policy Pushed

The organization is pushing for a worldwide zero-tolerance policy that would defrock any clergy member who admits to or is proven of sexually abusing a child. This approach has been implemented in the United States.

The Pontiff acknowledged that there is "resistance in certain regions of the globe" to this initiative, according to the representative.

"We were all being realistic when we acknowledged that there is pushback," they remarked.

Legacy Challenge

The current pontiff, who took the role in spring, has inherited this longstanding problem that has haunted the Catholic Church for decades.

Previous efforts to address the situation included an historic summit on child abuse within the institution and changes to church laws to explicitly criminalize sexual abuse.

Personal Connection

For the representative, who prefers they/them pronouns, the drive for global implementation of the policy is deeply meaningful. The Canadian advocate shared they were abused by a clergy member who was later transferred between different parishes.

"Hopefully this will set the tone for his papacy, because we aim to collaborate with him," Hickey stated. "Both sides share the common objective, we want to eliminate abuse by religious officials."

Historic Meeting

Multiple representatives of the organization, which includes victims and supporters from over thirty countries, met with the Pope in his Vatican office.

The discussion, initially planned for 20 minutes, lasted to a full hour, during which the religious leader "mostly listened to us," according to Hickey.

The pontiff was described as "very understanding" when listening to the account of a female survivor abused at a church-run institution for Indigenous children in North America.

Hickey added the Pope was "tender" about their own experience and appeared "very humble, funny, and approachable."

"Survivors have consistently sought a voice in discussions and I didn't perceive like he was giving us lip service," Hickey commented. "I felt like he was genuine, practical, and very open and keen to work with us."

Church Regulations Reforms

The organization is hoping that revisions to church regulations will enable the adoption of the strict approach globally.

They have spoken with specialists and gathered documents that they will submit to Pope Leo.

"He seemed engaged in looking at it," Hickey noted.

Responsibility Highlighted

A recently released church-ordered document highlighted the "necessity of a efficient process for the stepping down and/or removal of Church leaders or staff in cases of abuse or negligence."

The report also noted that survivors repeatedly stressed the "urgent need for bishops and senior officials to be made responsible for negligence and concealment."

Moving Forward

The representative revealed they informed the pontiff at the start of their discussion: "This is as much a risk for him to engage in a dialogue as it was for us."

Following the meeting, they voiced optimism for progress.

"We understand it's not something that's going to be resolved quickly, but at the conclusion, uniting and establishing a relationship and persisting to strengthen that relationship is a step in the correct path," they stated.

They added that they shared with the pontiff: "Just because it's a dark chapter, I believe like we can change how the narrative concludes - he valued that."