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People who experienced abuse by Catholic clergy have expressed renewed hope following their initial encounter with Pope Leo at the Holy See.

Gemma Hickey, heading Ending Clergy Abuse, commented that the pontiff's choice to engage with them so early in his leadership sent a strong message about his commitment to tackling the issue.

Global Zero-Tolerance Policy Advocated

The group is advocating for a global strict approach that would defrock any priest who admits to or is proven of sexually abusing a minor. This approach has been implemented in the US.

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

"We were all being realistic when we recognized that there is pushback," Hickey stated.

Inherited Issue

The new Pope, who took the position in spring, has inherited this longstanding problem that has haunted the Catholic Church for decades.

Earlier attempts to address the problem included an historic meeting on child abuse within the institution and changes to church laws to explicitly criminalize abuse.

Deeply Felt Link

For Hickey, who prefers gender-neutral pronouns, the drive for global implementation of the measure is personal. The North American activist revealed they were victimized by a clergy member who was later moved between various churches.

"Hopefully this will set the tone for his leadership, because we want to collaborate with him," Hickey stated. "We have the same goal, we seek to end clergy abuse."

Historic Encounter

Multiple representatives of the organization, which represents survivors and advocates from over thirty countries, engaged with the Pope in his Vatican office.

The discussion, initially planned for a brief period, lasted to a sixty minutes, during which the religious leader "mostly listened to us," according to the representative.

The Pope was characterized as "quite empathetic" when hearing the story of a female survivor abused at a Catholic residential school for native youth in Canada.

Hickey noted the leader was "tender" about their personal experience and seemed "modest, funny, and approachable."

"Victims have consistently sought a voice in discussions and I didn't feel like he was giving us lip service," they stated. "I felt like he was genuine, practical, and very open and eager to work with us."

Canon Law Changes

The group is advocating that changes to church regulations will facilitate the implementation of the strict approach globally.

They have consulted experts and compiled documents that they plan to submit to the pontiff.

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

Responsibility Highlighted

A recent church-ordered 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 consistently emphasized the "urgent need for church leaders and senior officials to be made responsible for negligence and concealment."

Path Ahead

The representative shared they told the Pope at the start of their discussion: "This represents as much a challenge for him to engage in a dialogue as it was for us."

Following the encounter, they voiced optimism for progress.

"We realise it's not something that's going to be resolved quickly, but at the conclusion, coming together and establishing a relationship and persisting to build that bond is a move in the correct path," they commented.

They added that they told with the pontiff: "Just because it's a difficult period, I feel like we can change how the story concludes - he valued that."