The Vatican has the investigation of Bishop Michael Duca of Baton Rouge concerning accusation against diocesan priest

 

Investigation of Baton Rouge Bishop Submitted to Vatican

It’s not clear when the Vatican will decide or whether the Vatican will reveal the results.

St. Joseph Cathedral in the city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (photo: William Silver / Shutterstock)

Matthew McDonald

September 22, 2026

The interview phase of the Vatican’s investigation into how Baton Rouge Bishop Michael Duca handled an accusation of sexual misconduct by a priest has ended and the material has been sent to Rome, a witness told the Register.

Luke Zumo, who filed the complaint that triggered the investigation, said he received an email message Monday, Sept. 21, from New Orleans Archbishop James Checchio saying that the prelate has completed his report and sent it to the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops. The archbishop was responding to an email message Zumo sent late last week requesting an update, Zumo said.

A spokesman for the Archdiocese of New Orleans declined comment Tuesday afternoon. A spokesman for the Diocese of Baton Rouge contacted Monday night did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Zumo told the Register that investigators from out of state working under the archbishop came to Baton Rouge to conduct interviews at least twice — once in June and again in July.

Zumo filed the complaint on Feb. 19, about seven months ago.

According to Zumo, Archbishop Checchio received a letter from the Vatican authorizing an investigation of Bishop Duca on May 4, which is about four and a half months ago.

Zumo noted that’s longer than the 90 days envisioned by Vatican guidelines.

“But it also means that it happened, and it’s going to a final step. I’m thankful for that,” Zumo told the Register.

Zumo made the complaint against Bishop Duca under Vos Estis Lux Mundi, an apostolic letter issued by Pope Francis in May 2019 that established a process for investigating bishops in sexual-abuse cases, including how bishops handle complaints about clerics under their jurisdiction. The document suggests 90 days for an investigation but allows for a longer term at the outset and for extensions for what it calls “just reasons.”

It’s unclear how long the Vatican will take to render a decision and whether that decision will become public.

Complaint About Priest’s Conduct

The investigation stems from a purported incident from nearly a year ago.

A man in his mid-60s has said that on Sept. 27, 2025, Father Charbel Jamhoury, a Maronite priest who at the time was pastor of St. Isidore the Farmer in Baker, Louisiana, used an early-morning Saturday meeting at the otherwise-deserted parish office to make sexual advances on the man and also stated that he missed having oral sex with boys.

The priest has denied the accusations.

As the Register reported in May and in June of this year, the purported victim says he informed the Diocese of Baton Rouge about the incident in early October 2025.

But the purported victim and Zumo, a longtime friend, have told the Register that the bishop was hard to reach and slow to respond.

The bishop put the pastor on leave in late December 2025 and removed him as pastor in early February 2026. Zumo said the bishop acted only under pressure, after Zumo contacted law enforcement, and that parishioners didn’t learn of the accusations against the priest until about four months after the diocese first received the purported victim’s complaint.

The diocese issued a statement Feb. 10 saying that Bishop Duca engaged in “extensive conversation with all parties involved” and considered interviews conducted by a private investigator hired by the diocese and by law enforcement as well as a “full health assessment” of Father Jamhoury before removing him as pastor.

The written statement acknowledged that “many members of the community have been frustrated due to the length of this process and perceived silence,” but said that “due diligence in such matters is necessary to protect the interests of both the claimant and the priest.”

The purported victim has told the Register that Bishop Duca informed him in mid-May 2026 that Father Jamhoury, who is originally from Lebanon, left the United States.

Bishop Duca, 74, is about eight and a half months from turning 75 (in June 2027), which is the normal retirement age for a bishop, though the pope can extend a bishop’s time in office.

Results?

As metropolitan archbishop of New Orleans, Archbishop Checchio under Vos Estis is the ordinary investigator of bishops in the Ecclesiastical Province of New Orleans, which includes the Diocese of Baton Rouge.

Zumo said that he has asked Archbishop Checchio whether he will learn what the Vatican decides to do.

He noted that Vos Estis says: “In compliance with the instructions of the competent Dicastery, the Metropolitan, upon request, shall inform the person who has alleged an offence, or his/her legal representatives, of the outcome of the investigation.”

Zumo told the Register he has asked Archbishop Checchio about that passage in the document.

“He shared with me in a professional and candid way that he’s under obedience to the Vatican and that he’ll only reveal to me what the Dicastery for Bishops allows him to reveal,” Zumo said.

“Because of that, I’m trying to spiritually and emotionally prepare myself to receive whatever outcome is shared or not shared with us as God’s will,” he said.

Zumo told the Register he appreciates his interactions with the archbishop.

Zumo said, “Archbishop Checchio really has been incredibly responsive and personable throughout, each time I have reached out to him. And that has been a comfort and an encouragement through a difficult process

How can this happen: The Diocese of Fresno end retirement benefits to all past and present employees

 

‘Devastating’: Fresno Diocese retirees lose benefits

by: Rhett Rodriguez

FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – Retired Fresno Diocese employees will no longer receive retirement benefits starting next year.

Hundreds of former employees are now left scrambling over what to do with their financial future now up in the air.

In a letter to retirees last month, the diocese said the retirement plan was frozen at the end of June.

The church says they contributed the agreed-upon amount negotiated in employee contracts,

But the diocese says Christian Brothers Services, the company responsible for managing the money, is the reason there isn’t enough to continue payments.

The diocese says it explored legal options to transfer the money into a retirement plan of their own. But said that plan would not be possible with the church filing for bankruptcy.

The church is facing a multimillion-dollar lawsuit involving more than 150 claims of sexual abuse by members of the clergy.

Joan Pacella worked at St. Helens Catholic school for more than a decade and is trying to figure out what to do next after Christian Brothers says her last payment would be in December.

“To find out you are going to lose a huge portion of your income, especially for the people who worked there for decades, it’s devastating,” Pacella said.

Pacella says when she called the diocese and the Christian Brothers services to ask questions, she was given the runaround by both.

She is now working with a dozen former employees to weigh the legal options and has a message for Bishop Brennan.

“Please respond to us,” Pacella said. “Please accept the responsibility to us that was promised in our contracts. These people served the church.”

The Fresno Diocese released this statement, which read in part:

The Diocese of Fresno has and will continue to communicate with its current and former employees regarding the matter.

Current diocese employees are no longer receiving retirement benefits as of now. The church says they are working to start a separate plan for employees with similar benefits to the previous one.

Meanwhile, at Lourdes, the rush is on to cover-up Rupnik art ahead of papal visit; but, in Brazil...

 

As Lourdes covers Rupnik mosaics for papal visit, Brazil shrine unveils more

by Justin McLellan

Vatican Correspondent

Vatican City — September 10, 2026

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At one of Catholicism's most iconic places of worship, Pope Leo XIV will be met with plainly decorated aluminum panels hiding a sinister secret: scores of artwork designed by a disgraced priest accused of abusing more than two dozen women, mostly religious sisters. 

The specter of Fr. Marko Rupnik, the once-celebrated Jesuit priest whose artwork adorns Catholic churches, cathedrals, seminaries and shrines the world over, has loomed over Leo's coming visit to Lourdes Sept. 26-27, where his mosaics decorate the facade of the basilica at the sanctuary's center. 

Allegations of sexual, psychological and spiritual abuse committed by Rupnik went public in 2022 and set off a churchwide reckoning over what to do with his artwork, which decorates churches from the world's farthest-flung corners to inside the Vatican.

Ahead of Leo's visit, Bishop Jean-Marc Micas of Tarbes and Lourdes said that all the mosaics will be entirely covered indefinitely, expanding a 2024 decision to cover them in part.

But two weeks before Leo's France visit and an ocean away, the largest installation of Rupnik's art will be inaugurated on the western facade of the Basilica of Our Lady of Aparecida in southern Brazil, the world's second largest Catholic church after St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Pilgrims arrive at the Cathedral Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady Aparecida, Brazil's patron saint, in the city of Aparecida, Sao Paulo state, Brazil, Oct.12, 2024. (OSV News/Reuters/Carla Carniel, Reuters)

The two cases highlight the contrast in how local churches are dealing with Rupnik's artistic legacy following revelations of his abuse, particularly after Leo's own position on the Rupnik case has begun to emerge.

Accusers criticize Aparecida's silence

Although the decision in Lourdes to cover the mosaics followed a consultation that included listening to accusers of clerical sexual abuse, legal professionals, safeguarding experts and local chaplains, no such process has taken place in Brazil, much to the disdain of accusers and their advocates. 

"When an institution must choose between preserving an image and protecting the dignity of those who have been harmed, [abuse] survivors must be at the center of that decision," Valdea Caratchuk, organizer of the Survivor's Network of Ecclesiastical Abuse in Brazil, told National Catholic Reporter about the Aparecida mosaics.

"Before they put up the works of someone who was an abuser, [the church] should listen to the opinion of victims, but that's not what has happened," she said.

Allegations against Rupnik became public in 2022, and he was expelled from the Jesuits in 2023 for refusing to comply with restrictions imposed on him by the religious order. A five-judge panel was assembled in 2025 to hear his case before the Vatican's doctrinal office in an ongoing trial. 

The shrine at Aparecida, which is run by the Redemptorist Fathers, said in a 2023 statement to the BBC that it is "closely monitoring the case and awaits guidance from the Church for its decisions."

Yet since the initial allegations surfaced publicly, three more monumental mosaic patterns have been installed to cover the basilica's three other facades. The mosaics on the western facade, which alone covers more than 43,000 square feet, will be inaugurated Sept. 12. 

Marketing materials soliciting donations for the mosaics make no mention of the controversy surrounding their creator. Though the shrine's original 2019 announcement of the project said that Rupnik would execute the project, its current webpage attributes the work to 39 mosaic artists "linked to the Aletti Center in Rome, Italy," which he founded. Meanwhile, the Brazilian bishops continue to hold their annual assemblies at the shrine.

Caratchuk, who says she was abused, said that not all accusers are asking that the mosaics be removed, but rather that the full story behind them, including their controversy, be acknowledged and shared. 

"The victims who are pushing back against the installation of the mosaics at Aparecida do not want to erase history, on the contrary, they want it to be told in its entirety," she told NCR. "The story behind a work of art does not end with the image we see. When there is such a large controversy around its author, that also becomes part of its history."

Guilherme Dudus, an attorney who co-founded Scars of Faith, a volunteer network of lawyers, psychologists and doctors assisting clergy abuse survivors in Brazil, called Lourdes' approach an "important first step" toward making the shrine welcoming to abuse victims, but he said the mosaics should ultimately be removed in both France and Brazil.

"All art that involves someone who is abusive should be removed, because what they produce is not an art that imitates life, but an art that imitates death," he told NCR. "That is how our victims feel, but we also know this will never be achieved in Brazil." 

Though some have argued that removing the art would be an unfair punishment to the other artists involved in the project, Dudus said that among victims, "everyone knows this was a project of Rupnik." 

"Unfortunately, we see the whole project as contaminated," he said. "We feel deeply shaken, outraged and saddened to see that, unfortunately, a place that should be a place of welcome, of faith and, above all, of simplicity, is the stage for this monumental project which alludes to a man who destroyed the lives of so many women."

Leo distances the papacy from Rupnik

With the pope on the verge of visiting a shrine covered in Rupnik's art, Leo's own view on the situation has increasingly come into focus.

Already, Leo had demonstrated a certain degree of intentionality in distancing himself from the distinctive mosaics. 

When he brought the Lenten Curial retreat back to the Vatican in his first year as pope, he chose not to use the Redemptoris Mater Chapel, where previous popes hosted the retreat and which is plastered floor-to-ceiling in Rupnik mosaics. 

And Rupnik's art, which was still used on Vatican websites to illustrate religious feast days well into 2025 — a move defended by the head of the Vatican's communications office  — was abruptly removed shortly after Leo's election. 

Micas, the Lourdes bishop, later revealed that Leo had requested that Rupnik's art no longer be used by the communications office and that the pope supported Lourdes' decision to cover the controversial mosaics.

The nunciature in Paris, which has a chapel decorated with Rupnik's art, will not host any celebrations during the pope's visit to France, OSV News reported. 

Seven years since the construction on the Aparecida mosaics got underway, Leo now has his own man in Aparecida — Archbishop Mário Antônio da Silva, who was appointed by the pope in March and took over for Archbishop Orlando Brandes, who had led the archdiocese since 2017. 

Da Silva, who was installed in May, visited the shrine's facade for the first time last month and praised their evangelical value, saying that they "impress everyone who looks at them closely." The archbishop declined to be interviewed for this article. 

The emergence of Leo's opposition to the continued display of Rupnik's work has not altered plans for Aparecida's Sept. 12 inauguration.

For now, the two shrines remain on opposite tracks: Aparecida will unveil another facade of Rupnik mosaics, and two weeks later, Lourdes will welcome the pope with its own hidden behind aluminum panels. 

Any public reference Leo makes to the artwork around him during his visit could reverberate far beyond France.

Prominent Canadian Cardinal cleared of sexual abuse charges; accuser to pay him damages

 

Judge’s ruling vindicates Cardinal Ouellet in abuse lawsuit; accuser ordered to pay him damages

written by The Catholic Register (Toronto, Ontario) 

September 1, 2026

Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, former prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, speaks to reporters at the Vatican Feb. 20, 2023. A Canadian Superior Court judge ruled Aug. 31, 2026, that sexual misconduct accusations against Cardinal Ouellet, retired archbishop of Quebec, were unfounded and ordered his accuser to pay him $100,000 in damages. (CNS photo/Justin McLellan)

(OSV News) — A judge in Montreal has found sexual misconduct accusations against Quebec’s Cardinal Marc Ouellet to be unfounded and ordered his accuser to pay him $100,000.

The cardinal, retired since April 2024, had been under a cloud of suspicion since Paméla Groleau had accused him of touching her without consent on three occasions between 2008 and 2010 while she was training or working as a lay pastoral agent. She also told the court she felt “hunted” at another event, saying Cardinal Ouellet came from across the room to sit next to her.

“The court finds that the allegations describing the four events cited by Ms. Groleau in the context of the class action are false,” Superior Court Justice Martin Castonguay wrote in a decision released Aug. 31.

Castonguay concluded that Groleau’s testimony against the now 82-year-old Cardinal Ouellet “was neither credible nor reliable,” noting in his judgment that she had changed her story several times.

Judge rules other women’s testimony not pertinent

Two other women testified against Cardinal Ouellet at the trial, but the judge ruled their testimony was not pertinent to the question of whether Groleau defamed the cardinal. He also concluded Cardinal Ouellet was “not the author of the gestures” brought into evidence by one of the women.

The allegations against the cardinal surfaced in 2022 as part of a class-action lawsuit launched against the Archdiocese of Quebec and dozens of clergy and lay members. In response, Cardinal Ouellet publicly denied any wrongdoing and countered with a $100,000 (US $72,230) defamation countersuit against his accuser, claiming she had damaged his reputation, honor and dignity.

After the lawsuit was filed, the Vatican chose not to launch its own investigation into the cardinal. In a statement issued Aug. 18, 2022, by Matteo Bruni, then director of the Press Office of the Holy See, the Vatican found there were “insufficient elements to open a canonical investigation for sexual assault by Cardinal Ouellet against person F,” as Groleau was identified at the time.

Damage to cardinal ‘amplified’ by class-action suit

In his ruling, Castonguay said the damage to Cardinal Ouellet — former archbishop of Quebec who would serve as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops under Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis — and his reputation was “amplified by the chosen vehicle, meaning that of a class action aimed principally at religious pedophiles, thereby equating Cardinal Ouellet, in the eyes of the ‘ordinary citizen,’ with that group of individuals.”

He said it “is difficult to quantify” the true impact of the allegations against Cardinal Ouellet and awarded him the $100,000 he sought.

The class action against the Archdiocese of Quebec was ratified Aug. 12, with the Quebec Superior Court approving a $31.5 million (U.S. $22.66 million) out-of-court settlement for people who say they were sexually abused by members of the church dating back to 1940. 

In a statement about the ruling in favor of their client, Cardinal Ouellet’s lawyers were pleased the court recognized the injustice suffered by the cardinal.

‘Judgment reaffirms a fundamental principle’

“This judgment reaffirms a fundamental principle: even in the context of judicial proceedings, serious allegations must be based on accurate and relevant facts and advanced with the rigor required by their gravity,” said Dominique Ménard in the statement.

The cardinal has promised to donate the damages he was awarded to organizations fighting against sexual abuse experienced by Indigenous Canadians.

The class action also accused Quebec’s current archbishop, Cardinal Gérald Lacroix, of sexual misconduct. After stepping aside for six months in early 2024, Cardinal Lacroix resumed his role after a Vatican-mandated investigation found no evidence to support the accusations.

Pope Leo XIV approves new Statutes while renewing the mandate to protect and safeguard minors and vulnerable adults

 

A view of St. Peter's Basilica 

Vatican

• Pope Leo XIV
• Roman Curia
• protection of minors

Protection of Minors Commission receives new Statutes, renewed mandate

Pope Leo XIV approves new Statutes for the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, reinforcing the Church's commitment to safeguarding minors and vulnerable persons.

Vatican News

Pope Leo XIV has approved new Statutes for the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, replacing those promulgated in 2015 and bringing the Commission's structure and mandate in line with the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium.

The new Statutes have been approved ad experimentum for a period of three years and were published on Saturday, 13 June 2026.

A Rescript signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin notes that the Holy Father approved the revised text during an audience on 20 May 2026 and ordered its immediate entry into force.

Pontifical Commission’s role to promote accountability

In a press release accompanying the publication of the Statutes, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors said the revised text strengthens its role in promoting safeguarding practices across the universal Church and forms part of a broader effort “to ensure that safeguarding is fully integrated into the life and structures of the Church.”

Archbishop Thibault Verny, President of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, said the Statutes “mark an important step in deepening our shared responsibility to protect and care for the most vulnerable.”

“They reflect listening—to victims/survivors, to safeguarding experts, and to the experience of local Churches—and reaffirm that safeguarding remains a central priority,” he continued.

New aspects of Commission’s mandate

According to the Commission, the revised Statutes strengthen its mandate and operational effectiveness, continue to emphasize victim- and survivor-informed approaches.

The Statutes also clarify the Commission’s relationship with other Dicasteries of the Roman Curia, and reinforce its role in promoting “accountability, transparency, and good safeguarding practices globally.”

The Commission reports directly to the Pope and advises him on the protection of minors and vulnerable persons from abuse.

“It is established alongside the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and therefore collaborates closely with the Dicastery in the exchange of information, the development of safeguarding methodologies, preparation of the Annual Report and formation programs,” noted the press release. “The President or Secretary are nominated members of the Dicastery, and one or more Dicastery officials are nominated by the Prefect as observers at the Commission’s Plenary Assemblies.”

The Commission does not govern but helps to guide the Curia’s service to the universal Church by promoting local responsibility and competencies of the various Vatican Dicasteries.

Among the developments highlighted by the Commission is its continued support for local Churches in developing safeguarding frameworks and promoting stable and accessible reporting systems, as well as listening centers that “welcome, listen to and accompany victims/survivors”, while protecting confidentiality and personal data.

Annual reports

The Commission also noted its responsibility for preparing the Annual Report on Church Policies and Procedures for Safeguarding.

The report draws on contributions from Dicasteries and local ecclesial bodies and seeks to map “the status of safeguarding in the global Church” by distinguishing between verified policies, declared practices, information received, systemic issues, and recommendations.

Pope Leo has repeatedly affirmed that the protection of minors and vulnerable persons is a fundamental responsibility of the Church.

The Commission said the revised Statutes reaffirm this commitment and support its mission of accompanying local Churches in strengthening safeguarding efforts throughout the world.

Pope Leo XIV meets with victims of clergy abuse in Spain

 

Pope Leo XIV in Spain  (AFP or licensors)

Pope

• Pope Leo XIV
• Spain
• apostolic journey
• abuse

Pope Leo XIV meets with abuse victims in Spain

During his third day in the Spanish capital of Madrid, Pope Leo XIV holds a private meeting with victims of abuse by members of the clergy in Spain.

By Deborah Castellano Lubov and Salvatore Cernuzio

Pope Leo XIV had a meeting on Monday with victims of abuse by members of the clergy in Spain, stated Matteo Bruni, Director of the Holy See Press Office, on Telegram.

In the message, Bruni noted that the Holy Father met with six abuse victims who were accompanied by Church personnel engaged in supporting and accompanying victims.

"During the conversation, which lasted nearly an hour," the Holy See Press Office Director noted, "each of those present, drawing on their own painful personal experiences, offered the Pope a number of proposals aimed at making the Church’s response to such tragic cases more effective."

"The Pope," Bruni continued, "listened with affection and attentiveness, assured them of his closeness—as well as that of the entire ecclesial community—and reaffirmed his commitment to ensuring that the proposals received serve as a foundation for further efforts, so that the Church may truly be a safe and spiritually healthy place where wounds can find comfort and healing."

Bruni also noted that "The victims felt that the Pope had taken their suffering upon himself."

The Holy See Press Office Director had confirmed this encounter would take place prior to the Pope's departure from Rome, explaining that it was organized by the local Church, noting that further details would be given soon, with respect for the privacy of the victims.

The issue of abuse remains a painful one for the Spanish Church, which in recent years has implemented various initiatives aimed at prevention and reparation.

Most recently, in March, a protocol was agreed upon by the Spanish Episcopal Conference, the Conference of Religious, and the Ministry of the Presidency to address this painful reality with truth and justice. 

Pope Leo XIV's private, closed-door dialogue was similar in style to those of his predecessors.

Pope Benedict XVI met with abuse victims during his visits to the United States in 2008, as well as to the United Kingdom, Australia, and Germany.

Pope Francis also held similar meetings during his travels to Ireland, Chile, Portugal, and Belgium.

In Lafayette LA a Permanent Deacon was excommunicated for confronting his child's abuser; a Catholic Priest. Appeals pending.

 

Excommunicated Catholic deacon still waiting on overdue appeal outcome after his son was molested by priest

Scott Peyton left the Lafayette, Louisiana, diocese after priest admitted to abusing his son and was excommunicated months later

A Louisiana man who resigned as a Roman Catholic deacon after a priest molested his son and then was excommunicated from the church entirely by his local bishop is asking global church leaders to inform him of the fate of his appeal against the prelate’s decision, something that was supposed to be resolved more than a year earlier.

In a letter to the Vatican entity in charge of clerical discipline, a canon – or church – law attorney representing Scott Peyton asserts that his case is “nuanced and requires careful consideration”. “To the extent that the delay reflects such diligence, he is grateful,” said the letter to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), prepared by Dawn Eden Goldstein on 3 February and obtained recently by the Guardian.

Nonetheless, the letter continued, Peyton “wishes that I convey to you that, from his perspective, the unduly long span of time with no communication from your office only compounds the injustices that he and his family have suffered from the church”.

He broke the story of the US Catholic clergy abuse scandal. Now he reflects on struggling to keep his faith

Read more

Word of Peyton’s plight earned international news headlines in March 2024, with many outlets characterizing his excommunication as a remarkably harsh consequence that his child’s molester does not appear to have ever faced because the church, in sum, does not consider the abuser’s offense on its own excommunicable.

Peyton was ordained into Louisiana’s diocese of Lafayette – about 135 miles (217km) west of New Orleans – as a deacon in 2012. Deacons are largely similar to priests, though they can join the clergy despite being married.

About six years after his ordination, a priest with whom Peyton ministered at St Peter’s church in Morrow, Louisiana, confessed to molesting the deacon’s teenage son, Oliver, and was arrested by authorities.

Michael Guidry, now 83, later pleaded guilty to abusing Oliver Peyton, who was an altar server. He received a seven-year prison sentence after his church feted him with a farewell lunch for which the diocese was forced to apologize.

In 2021, Peyton said he, his wife, Letitia, and Oliver secured a $350,000 settlement from Lafayette’s diocese to settle a civil lawsuit without a trial. The Peytons in the meantime have become advocates for clergy abuse survivors. And in December 2023, Scott Peyton decided he was no longer a good fit to serve as a deacon in the diocese, quit and went on to join an Anglican church’s congregation.

Lafayette bishop J Douglas Deshotel responded to those developments by issuing a 13 March 2024 decree informing Peyton he had been excommunicated, effective immediately, basically because the deacon had severed ties with the Catholic church.

“I am aware that your family has suffered a trauma, but the answer does not lie in leaving the Most Holy Eucharist,” Deshotel wrote, adding that “we are not Catholics because the church … is perfect”.

For pious Catholics, excommunication is as severe a punishment as there is, preventing recipients of it from engaging in certain sacraments as a way to essentially shock them into rethinking their sinful behavior before death condemns them to damnation. Among the most famous Catholic excommunicates are Henry VIII (over a divorce and remarriage), Napoleon Bonaparte (for annexing the Papal States within Italy to France) and Martin Luther (for igniting the Reformation).

Peyton formally appealed against his excommunication to the DDF in May 2024, arguing in part that “there was no pastoral good to be accomplished” by his censure. He also contended that his wife and six children feel unwelcome in the Catholic church because of his excommunication, meaning the punishment had “harmed the spiritual lives of eight Catholics”.

That appeal ostensibly initiated an adjudication process that generally should be completed in three months.

Deshotel wrote to Peyton in October 2024 – five months later – notifying him that his appeal “material … has been received and is currently being evaluated” by the DDF. The bishop said he sent that letter at the behest of the DDF’s secretary, Archbishop John Joseph Kennedy.

It had been well over a year since that missive when Goldstein herself wrote to Kennedy in early February asking for at least an update concerning the status of her client’s appeal. She argued that the “harm” raised in Peyton’s appeal “continues every day that [it] goes unanswered”.

Goldstein also wrote to Kennedy asking him to inform Oliver Peyton of Guidry’s “current canonical status and any penalties that may have been imposed upon him” after the latter’s guilty plea.

Neither inquiry had received a reply as of Saturday.

Furthermore, neither a Lafayette diocese spokesperson nor Guidry’s criminal defense attorney immediately responded when sent a message asking whether he had been laicized, or removed from the priesthood.

Many Catholic clergymen convicted of child molestation over the years have been allowed to remain in the priesthood. Some abusers who have left the priesthood have done so voluntarily.

The late Francis was the pope when Peyton first filed his excommunication appeal. The pope now is Leo XIV, who was elected to succeed Francis in May 2025 and became history’s first US-born pontiff.

Another abusive Lafayette diocese priest named Gilbert Gauthe all but brought the worldwide, decades-old Catholic clergy abuse crisis to the US’s collective conscience by pleading guilty in 1985 to molesting several boys he met through his ministry.

More recently, Lafayette’s diocese unsuccessfully asked Louisiana’s supreme court to strike down a state law passed in 2021 which eliminated filing deadlines for lawsuits seeking damages over child molestation that occurred long ago.

Meanwhile, on 5 March, a Lafayette diocese priest named Korey LaVergne was formally charged with three counts of felony indecent behavior with a juvenile in connection with allegations that he inappropriately touched a child.