San Francisco Archdiocese declares bankruptcy amid hundreds of lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse
OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco’s Roman Catholic archdiocese has filed for bankruptcy, saying the filing is necessary to manage more than 500 lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse by church officials. Church officials said Monday that the Chapter 11 protection filing will stop all legal actions against the archdiocese and allow it to develop a settlement plan with abuse survivors. The San Francisco Archdiocese is the third Bay Area diocese to file for bankruptcy against lawsuits brought under a 2019 California law that allowed decades-old claims to be filed by last December. The Roman Catholic Diocese in Oakland filed for bankruptcy in May and Santa Rosa’s in March.