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Individuals who endured abuse by church officials have voiced renewed hope following their initial encounter with the new Pope at the Vatican.

Gemma Hickey, who leads the anti-abuse organization, stated that the pontiff's decision to meet with them so early in his leadership spoke volumes about his dedication to tackling the issue.

Worldwide Zero-Tolerance Approach Advocated

The organization is pushing for a worldwide strict approach that would permanently remove any priest who admits to or is found guilty of abusing a minor. This policy has already been adopted in the United States.

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

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

Legacy Challenge

The current pontiff, who assumed the position in May, has taken on this longstanding problem that has haunted the Church for many years.

Previous efforts to address the situation included an historic meeting on child abuse within the Church and revisions to church laws to explicitly criminalize abuse.

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For Hickey, who prefers they/them pronouns, the campaign for worldwide adoption of the measure is deeply meaningful. The North American advocate revealed they were abused by a clergy member who was subsequently transferred between various churches.

"Hopefully this will set the tone for his papacy, because we want to collaborate with him," Hickey stated. "We have the same goal, we seek to eliminate abuse by religious officials."

Significant Meeting

Multiple representatives of the organization, which includes victims and advocates from over thirty nations, engaged with the Pope in his official residence.

The meeting, initially planned for 20 minutes, extended to a sixty minutes, during which the Pope "mostly listened to us," according to the representative.

The pontiff was characterized as "very understanding" when hearing the story of a female survivor abused at a church-run institution for Indigenous children in Canada.

Hickey noted the leader was "compassionate" about their own story and appeared "modest, funny, and approachable."

"Victims have consistently sought a voice in discussions and I didn't perceive like he was giving us lip service," they commented. "I believed like he was genuine, realistic, and very open and eager to collaborate with us."

Canon Law Changes

The organization is hoping that revisions to church regulations will facilitate the adoption of the zero-tolerance policy worldwide.

They have spoken with specialists and compiled documents that they will present to the pontiff.

"He appeared interested in looking at it," Hickey noted.

Responsibility Emphasized

A recent Vatican-commissioned document emphasized the "necessity of a efficient process for the stepping down and/or removal of religious officials or personnel in cases of misconduct or failure to act."

The document also noted that victims repeatedly stressed the "critical requirement for bishops and senior officials to be made responsible for negligence and cover-up."

Path Ahead

The representative shared they informed 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."

After the encounter, Hickey voiced optimism for progress.

"We understand it's not something that's going to be resolved quickly, but at the end of the day, uniting and establishing a connection and persisting to build that relationship is a step in the right direction," they commented.

They added that they told with the pontiff: "Even though it's a difficult period, I believe like we can change how the story concludes - he appreciated that."