ROME – Pope Leo XIV met with the leadership of the Ending Clergy Abuse (ECA) advocacy organization on Monday in the Vatican, Leo’s first official meeting with survivors of abuse since his election in May and the first-ever meeting between a pope and a global rights and advocacy group for survivors of clerical sexual abuse.

Speaking at an Oct. 20 press conference after the meeting, Gemma Hickey, a survivor of clergy sexual abuse from Canada and ECA board president, said, “We come as bridge-builders ready to walk together toward truth, justice and healing.”

“Because the times are so polarized,” Hickey said of ECA’s decision to meet the pope, “the most radical act we can engage in right now is sitting down and having a conversation.”

The meeting, which lasted over an hour, was attended by Hickey; Janet Aguti, ECA Board Vice-President, from Uganda; Tim Law, ECA co-founder and Board Member from the United States; Matthias Katsch, ECA co-founder and Board Member from Germany; Evelyn Korkmaz, ECA co-founder and Board Member from Canada; Sergio Salinas, ECA Board Member from Argentina; and Pedro Salinas, ECA co-founder and board member from Peru.

Hickey described the meeting as “very open,” saying Pope Leo “was very warm, he listened, he has a sense of humor, he is very humble.”

They read a statement on behalf of ECA at the beginning of the meeting and afterward shared their personal stories and addressed specific issues, including the recently published annual report of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (PCPM) and the need for a zero-tolerance law to be enshrined in the Code of Canon Law at a universal level.

Part of the statement they read insisted that as an advocacy group, “we come here not in anger, but in hope: hope for accountability, healing, and lasting change…Our mission is to support those who have been harmed, advocate for the vulnerable, and hold to account an institution that has the capacity for great good.”

Katsh spoke of his own experience of the meeting, saying the pope “took his time with us” and listened carefully as each of them spoke.

“One hour is not a little for a man in charge of a global organization,” he said, saying the atmosphere was one of openness and listening, with the pope acknowledging that “this is the next historic step, to get together and talk.”

Leo, Katsh said, wanted to stay in contact and to have “an open channel of conversation,” and that he “has decided to do what he can do to help heal child sexual abuse in the church, to help survivors and to help find ways to hold to account those who have failed.”

“He’s still in a phase where he’s trying to find out how to best handle these issues, because the dimension is quite large,” Katch said, but noted that Pope Leo has extensive experience listening to survivors not only in Peru, but in Africa and many other parts of the world during his years as prior general of the Augustinians.

“I personally felt hope coming out of this meeting,” Katsh said, adding that he “saw a man who tries to do what he can do.”

“He’s moving forward at his own space and speed,” Katsh also said, “it is a very, very slow process and for survivors it can be difficult, but organizational change takes time.”

ECA co-founder Korkmaz also acknowledged there is still a long way to go in the fight against clerical abuse, but shared the impression of Leo as committed to engaging victims and to bettering the church’s systems.

“Today I felt that I was heard by pope Leo XIV,” said Korkmaz, a Cree indigenous residential school survivor who spoke of the healing and reparation process in Canada, and of Pope Francis’s 2022 visit to the country, during which he apologized for the church’s institutional role in the residential school system and the abuses committed as part of it.

“I feel that [Leo] is going to continue this path of reconciliation, he is a very humble man. He understood our issue, he understood ECA’s mission. I was very pleased today, I felt like my voice has finally been heard on the indigenous issues,” Korkmaz said.

Korkmaz said she asked the pope to release information on burial sites for residential schools in Canada, and is optimistic that they will work together on this issue.

Aguti said she appreciated the pope’s recognition that there are “different ways of recognizing things in the church” and that cultural differences can impact how the issue of clerical abuse is handled.

“We know all of us that culture can be a barrier to certain implementations, but we know these things can be changed and implemented even though it takes time. He knows there is abuse in Africa and has come face to face with abuse in Africa, which often times it’s been smeared over as, ‘we don’t have examples of cases in Africa.’”

“Pope Leo knows this is false because of his first-hand involvement in meeting with abuse survivors in Africa, she said, saying, “I left the meeting with hope. I know it’s a big step for us, it’s a historical moment.”

Law spoke of the need to implement a zero-tolerance law universally, and said that the pope was sympathetic, but realistic about the challenges to implementing such a law.

“He listened, he said, ‘I can’t just take a pen and put a signature on your work, but I know it’s something we have to work on.’ We said we want to be in the room when this is being discussed, we want to be part of that conversation.”

Pope Leo acknowledged that “there is great resistance” to implementing a universal norm like this, Law said, saying the pope “understands that, so it’s going to take time.”

However, every single credible accusation of abuse, regardless of the timeline, ought to result in the removal of a priest or prelate from ministry, Law said, saying, “It’s shocking that there is no zero-tolerance law, it’s shocking that [Pope Leo] said there is resistance to it. He’s not resistant to it.”

In terms of next steps, Hickey said ECA intends to follow up the meeting by sending Leo their proposal for the zero-tolerance law and other documents on church safeguarding policy.

“We ended our meeting on a positive note, and said we’d stay in dialogue,” Hickey said, voicing hope that they can have an annual meeting with the pontiff to continue dialogue.

Similarly, Aguti said that the meeting was “hopeful,” and said the pope’s “willingness to listen and his admittance that he has not been abused, but has walked w survivors,” means that “he knows” what the problems are.

“So the next step is to follow up with the pope: What do we do and how do we move forward?”

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