Authored by Owen Evans via The Epoch Times,
The Archdiocese of San Francisco has agreed to pay $395 million to settle more than 500 lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse by church officials, in what the plaintiffs’ lawyers described as the largest per-survivor settlement.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys said on June 29 that San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone will have to write an apology letter to each survivor as part of the settlement.
The settlement also requires the archdiocese to implement a series of child protection and transparency reforms.
The settlement comes three years after the archdiocese filed for bankruptcy and will cover approximately 530 survivors of child sexual abuse.
It is the latest agreement over clergy sexual abuse claims. In 2024, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed to a record $880 million settlement.
This settlement follows years of back-and-forth mediation between the Archdiocese and the Survivors’ Creditors Committee.
The law firm representing the survivors said the $395 million “stands as the largest per survivor settlement in any clerical bankruptcy.”
“As a part of the settlement, the Archdiocese is turning over (assigning) its rights under the insurance policies for the survivors to recover additiona
