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People who experienced abuse by church officials have voiced fresh optimism after their first encounter with the new Pope at the Vatican.

Gemma Hickey, who leads Ending Clergy Abuse, stated that the pontiff's decision to engage with them so early in his papacy sent a strong message about his commitment to tackling the issue.

Global Zero-Tolerance Policy Advocated

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

The Pontiff recognized that there is "opposition in certain regions of the world" to this proposal, according to the representative.

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

Inherited Issue

The new Pope, who assumed the role in May, has taken on this longstanding problem that has haunted the Church for many years.

Previous efforts to address the problem included an historic meeting on paedophilia within the Church and changes to church laws to clearly outlaw abuse.

Personal Connection

For the representative, who prefers they/them pronouns, the drive for global implementation of the measure is deeply meaningful. The North American activist shared they were victimized by a priest who was subsequently moved between different parishes.

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

Historic Meeting

Multiple representatives of the coalition, which includes survivors and advocates from more than 30 countries, met with the Pontiff in his Vatican office.

The meeting, initially planned 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 "quite empathetic" when listening to the account of a female survivor victimized at a Catholic residential school for native youth in Canada.

They noted the leader was "compassionate" about their personal experience and appeared "modest, funny, and very down to earth."

"Survivors have consistently sought a voice in discussions and I didn't feel like he was making empty promises," they commented. "I believed like he was genuine, realistic, and receptive and keen to work with us."

Canon Law Changes

The group is advocating that revisions to canon law will enable the implementation of the strict approach globally.

They have spoken with specialists and compiled documents that they plan to submit to the pontiff.

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

Responsibility Emphasized

A recently released Vatican-commissioned document emphasized the "necessity of a streamlined protocol for the stepping down and/or dismissal of religious officials or personnel in cases of abuse or negligence."

The report also pointed out that survivors repeatedly stressed the "critical requirement for church leaders and senior officials to be made responsible for negligence and cover-up."

Moving Forward

Hickey revealed they told the pontiff at the start of their discussion: "This represents as much a challenge for him to participate in a dialogue as it was for us."

After the meeting, they voiced hope for future change.

"We understand it's not something that's going to happen overnight, but at the conclusion, uniting and establishing a connection and continuing to build that bond is a move in the correct path," they commented.

They concluded that they told with the pontiff: "Just because it's a difficult period, I feel like we can alter how the narrative ends - he appreciated that."