Pope meets with global group of clergy abuse survivors to talk zero tolerance

The U.S. policy, first articulated in the 1990s, was publicly adopted at the height of the scandal there in a bid to restore trust and credibility in the U.S. hierarchy after revelations of decades of abuse and cover-up. It is church law in the United States but is not embraced elsewhere.

Leo acknowledged "there was great resistance" to the idea of a universal zero-tolerance law, said Tim Law, ECA co-founder. But Law said he told Leo that ECA wanted to work with him and the Vatican to move the idea forward.

Leo has met before with clergy abuse survivors, and was the point person for listening to victims in the Peruvian bishops conference when he was a bishop there. But history's first American pope acknowledged the significance of meeting with ECA as an activist organization, members told a press conference.

Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI before him also met with individual victims but had kept activist and advocacy groups at arm's length.

"He said, 'This is the next historic step: to sit together and talk,'" said German participant Matthias Katsch of Monday's meeting. "He allowed us to stay in contact, to have an open channel of communications."

The audience inside the Apostolic Palace lasted an hour and Leo listened intently, participants said. The Vatican didn't initially list it among Leo's audiences Monday, though subsequent versions of the pope's agenda included it.

Six ECA board members attended from Argentina, Canada, Germany, Uganda and the United States. Also in Rome was ECA member Pedro Salinas, a Peruvian survivor and journalist who knew the former Robert Prevost from their work finding justice for survivors of an abusive Catholic Peruvian lay group.

The survivors began the meeting by describing their key initiatives: the zero-tolerance policy, the convening of a conference on alleged abuses in Opus Dei in Argentina, and helping survivors of abuse in Philippines form a national organization.

"Inspired by your words upon becoming pope, we come as bridge builders, ready to walk together toward truth, justice and healing," ECA co-founder Gemma Hickey told Leo.

Ugandan survivor Janet Aguti said Leo seemed to understand the cultural impediments to dealing with the abuse problem in Africa, where church leaders often claim abuse doesn't exist since it isn't spoken of widely in society. She said children in the United States shouldn't be better protected than children in Africa.

"I left the meeting with hope and I know it is a big step for us, and it's a historical moment for me," she said.

Participants said they had sought an audience with Francis starting in 2019. They said they found Leo to be humble, sincere and committed to working to end abuse, though they said he asked them to be patient.

"Today I feel like I was heard," said Evelyn Korkmaz, ECA co-founder and survivor of a residential school in Canada from the Nishnawbe Aski Nation. "I believe he's going to continue this road to reconciliation.