Victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy have hope after meeting with Pope Leo

Survivors of sexual abuse by members of the Catholic clergy expressed hope after meeting Pope Leo for the first time at the Vatican.

Gemma Hickey, chairman of the board of Ending Clergy Abuse (ECA Global), told the BBC it spoke volumes that he had met them so early in his papacy.

The group is pushing for a global zero-tolerance policy, already adopted in the US, to permanently remove a priest who admits or is proven to have sexually abused a child. The pope acknowledged there was “resistance in some parts of the world” to it, Hickey said.

The new pope, who took over the role in May, inherited a problem that has dogged the Catholic Church for decades and the Vatican has struggled to eradicate.

His predecessor, Pope Francis, tried to tackle the problem by holding an unprecedented summit on pedophilia in the Church and by changing its laws to explicitly criminalize sexual abuse, but problems remain.

A a recent report commissioned by the Vatican was unusually critical of Church leaders, saying victims and survivors often raised a lack of accountability to bishops and superiors. Many historical cases are said to have been covered up.

ECA Global also recognizes that there is resistance to the zero-tolerance policy, Hickey said. “We were all realistic when we realized there was resistance.”

For Hickey, who uses the pronouns they/them, the drive to see such a policy adopted globally is personal, as the Canadian said they were abused by a priest who was then moved between parishes.

Hickey said Monday’s meeting was “historic” and “a big step for all of us.”

“We hope this will set the tone for his papacy because we want to work with him. We have the same goal, we want to end clerical abuse.”

Six board members and one other representative of ECA, a coalition of victims and advocates representing survivors from more than 30 countries, sat in a semicircle in the pope’s Vatican office, with the pope at the helm.

During the meeting — which was scheduled for 20 minutes but lasted an hour — the pope “mostly listened to us,” Hickey said.

The pope was “quite empathetic” in hearing the story of a woman abused at a Catholic school for indigenous children in Canada and “tender” about Hickey’s own experience, they added.

The first North American leader of the Catholic Church was “very humble, funny, (and) very down-to-earth,” Hickey said.

“Survivors have wanted a seat at the table for a long time, and I didn’t feel like he was paying us lip service. I felt like he was sincere, realistic and very open and eager to work with us.”

The group hopes the change to canon law will lead to a zero-tolerance policy worldwide and has spoken to experts and gathered documents it will provide to Pope Leo.

“He seemed interested in looking at it,” Hickey said.

The 100-page report by the Vatican’s child protection commission emphasized “the importance of a streamlined protocol for the resignation and/or removal of church leaders or staff in cases of abuse or neglect.”

It said victims and survivors stressed that “the urgent need to hold bishops and major superiors accountable for negligence and cover-ups has been repeatedly emphasized.”

He also raised concerns about information not being provided to victims about how their reports of abuse are handled, and said the public should know when a Church official has resigned or been removed due to abuse or neglect.

Hickey said they told the pope at the start of the meeting, “It’s as big a risk for him to engage in dialogue as it was for us.”

After the meeting, they were hopeful for a change.

“We realize it’s not something that’s going to happen overnight, but ultimately coming together and establishing a relationship and continuing to build that relationship is a step in the right direction.”

Hickey said they told Pope Leo that “just because he’s a dark head, I feel like we can change the ending of the story – he appreciated that.”