San Francisco Archdiocese in Bankruptcy Due to Abuse Claims

The Archdiocese of San Francisco filed for bankruptcy in order to deal with the over 500 child sexual abuse lawsuits that have been filed against it.

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"The unfortunate reality is that the Archdiocese does not have the financial means or the practical capacity to litigate all of these abuse claims individually," San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said.

The complaints against the Archdiocese members were filed in 2022 thanks to a law passed by the state of California that allowed cases of sexual abuse to be brought to light no matter how long ago the abuse case occurred.

By filing for bankruptcy, the San Francisco Archdiocese can freeze all legal proceedings against it until it develops an asset liquidation plan in order to fund the costs of lawsuits for survivors of sexual assault.

In the meantime, however, archdiocese employees will continue to be paid and parishioners will continue to be served.

Although many of the priests accused of sexual abuse have already died, at least three of them continue to attend churches in the San Francisco area, the local NBC network denounced in a recent investigation.

Both the San Francisco Archdiocese and these priests have denied the claims, saying an internal investigation found the allegations "were not substantiated."

So far, however, Archbishop Cordileone has not wanted to publish a list of priests in his archdiocese who have been accused of sexual abuse.