Free Republic

A Roman Catholic diocese based in California has announced that it is filing for bankruptcy due to the expenses related to numerous lawsuits centered on priest abuse. The Diocese of Sacramento released a statement on Monday confirming that Bishop Jaime Soto had “filed for reorganization of the Diocese of Sacramento’s debts in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.” The filing comes as the diocese faced over 250 lawsuits related to sex abuse of minors by clergy and lay employees, stemming from incidents that go as far back as the 1950s. “This wave of new claims followed a 2019 law allowing victim-survivors to file...

Bishop of Sacramento Excommunicates Priest Who Does Not Accept Pope Francis A Catholic priest in Sacramento, California, has been excommunicated by his bishop for refusing to recognize the validity of the papacy of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, also known as Pope Francis. In a letter of August 7, 2020, Bishop Jaime Soto of the Diocese of Sacramento has announced that “Fr. Jeremy Leatherby has placed himself and others in a state of schism with the Roman Catholic Church [and] incurred a latae sententiae excommunication” for having “instructed [the faithful] against the legitimacy of His Holiness, Pope Francis.” Furthermore, Bishop Soto condemns...

wo officers involved in the fatal shooting of Stephon Clark in Sacramento, California, last year will not be charged, the district attorney announced Saturday. The shooting of Clark, 22, in his grandmother’s backyard on March 18, 2018, sparked protests. The two officers said they believed Clark had a gun and was in a shooting stance before they fired, but only a cell phone was found. Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said body cameras and other evidence showed that one of the officers shouted at Clark to show his hands, that they took cover during the incident and that...