Pope Leo XIV meets with advocates and survivors of clerical sexual abuse

Pope Leo XIV met for the first time Monday with an organization of clergy abuse survivors and advocates, marking a departure from his predecessors who had kept activist and advocate organizations at arm’s length.

The meeting, which included four victims and two advocates from Ending Clergy Abuse, a global organization of abuse victims and activists, lasted about an hour.

Gemma Hickey, a Canadian survivor and president of the group’s board of directors, said the meeting with the pontiff was a “deeply meaningful conversation” that reflected a “shared commitment to justice, healing and real change.”

“Survivors have long sought a seat at the table and today we feel heard,” Hickey said in a statement.

The group has been campaigning to universalize the American Church’s zero-tolerance policy against abuse in the Catholic Church. Among other things, the policy calls for the permanent removal from ministry of any priest who abuses a child.

Leo acknowledged that “there was a lot of resistance” to the idea of ​​a universal zero-tolerance law, said Tim Law, co-founder of Ending Clergy Abuse. But Law said he told Leo that the group wanted to work with him and the Vatican to move the idea forward.

Hickey told reporters that Leo met with the group in his office in the Vatican’s apostolic palace, took photos with them and listened attentively.

“I left the meeting with hope,” Janet Aguti, a Ugandan survivor who was also at the meeting, told reporters, according to the Reuters news agency. “It’s a big step for us.”

Leo has met with survivors of clergy abuse before and was the key person listening to victims at the Peruvian bishops’ conference when he was bishop there. But the first American-born pope in history recognized the importance of meeting with the group as an activist organization, members said during a news conference.

Survivors said Leo told them he was still coming to grips with the enormity of the church’s scandals after becoming pope in May.

“I think it’s still in a phase where it’s trying to find the best way to address these issues,” Matthias Katsch said.

the late one Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI also met with individual victims, but kept activist and advocacy organizations at arm’s length.

In May 2024, Francisco sat down with Norah O’Donnell of News themezone for a extensive interviewand she asked him if, in his opinion, the Church had done enough to address the sexual abuse scandal.

“You must continue doing more,” Francisco responded. “Unfortunately, the tragedy of abuse is enormous. And against this, a right conscience and not only to not allow it, but to put in place the conditions so that it does not happen.”

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• sexual abuse
• Pope Leo XIV
• Catholic church