San Francisco Archdiocese Files for Bankruptcy Amid Child Sexual Abuse Lawsuits

The San Francisco Archdiocese has filed for bankruptcy in response to over 500 lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse by church officials. The filing will halt legal actions against the archdiocese and allow for the development of a settlement plan with abuse survivors. This makes the San Francisco Archdiocese the third Bay Area diocese to file for bankruptcy due to the large number of lawsuits brought under a California law allowing decades-old claims. Critics argue that the bankruptcy filing is an attempt to hide information, while the archdiocese claims it lacks the financial means to litigate all the abuse claims individually.