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People who endured abuse by Catholic clergy have expressed renewed hope following their initial meeting with the new Pope at the Holy See.

The board president, who leads Ending Clergy Abuse, commented that the pontiff's decision to meet with them so early in his papacy sent a strong message about his commitment to addressing the issue.

Global Strict Policy Pushed

The organization is pushing for a worldwide strict approach that would permanently remove any priest who confesses to or is proven of sexually abusing a child. This approach has already been adopted in the US.

The Pope recognized that there is "resistance in some parts of the world" to this proposal, according to the representative.

"Everyone was practical when we acknowledged that there is resistance," Hickey stated.

Inherited Challenge

The current pontiff, who assumed the role in spring, has inherited this longstanding issue that has plagued the Church for many years.

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.

Deeply Felt Connection

For Hickey, who uses gender-neutral pronouns, the campaign for worldwide adoption of the policy is deeply meaningful. The Canadian advocate revealed they were victimized by a clergy member who was later transferred between different parishes.

"Hopefully this will establish the direction for his papacy, because we aim to work with him," they stated. "We have the common objective, we want to end clergy abuse."

Historic Meeting

Multiple representatives of the coalition, which includes victims and advocates from more than 30 nations, met with the Pope in his official residence.

The meeting, originally scheduled for a brief period, extended to a sixty minutes, during which the religious leader "mostly listened to us," according to the representative.

The pontiff was characterized as "quite empathetic" when hearing the account of a female survivor abused at a church-run institution for native youth in North America.

They noted the leader was "compassionate" about their personal experience and appeared "very humble, humorous, and approachable."

"Victims have consistently sought a seat at the table and I didn't feel like he was giving us lip service," Hickey commented. "I felt like he was sincere, realistic, and receptive and keen to work with us."

Canon Law Reforms

The group is advocating that changes to canon law will facilitate the implementation of the zero-tolerance policy globally.

They have consulted experts and compiled documents that they will submit to Pope Leo.

"He seemed interested in looking at it," they remarked.

Accountability Emphasized

A recent church-ordered report highlighted the "importance of a streamlined protocol for the stepping down and/or dismissal of religious officials or personnel in cases of misconduct or failure to act."

The report also noted that victims consistently emphasized the "urgent need for church leaders and major superiors to be made responsible for negligence and concealment."

Moving Forward

The representative shared they informed the Pope at the beginning of their discussion: "This is as much a risk for him to participate in a conversation as it was for us."

After the encounter, they expressed hope for future change.

"We understand it's not something that's going to be resolved quickly, but at the conclusion, coming together and establishing a relationship and continuing to strengthen that bond is a step in the right direction," Hickey commented.

They added that they shared with the pontiff: "Just because it's a difficult period, I believe like we can alter how the narrative ends - he valued that."