San Francisco's Roman Catholic archdiocese has filed for bankruptcy as it struggles to pay out victims of more than 500 sex abuse lawsuits - making it the third Bay Area diocese to do so in a matter of months.

The Chapter 11 protection was filed Tuesday, and as was the case of the recent filings for the nearby dioceses of Oakland and Santa Rosa, was filed to protect the church district from several hundred civil lawsuits that have been aired against it.

All allege child sexual abuse by certain church officials, and more than 500 are currently held up in civil claims court.

Upon announcing the shrewd financial maneuver Tuesday, the district's archbishop appeared to brush off the allegations - on the basis that 'many occurred 30 or more years ago.'

All were filed following the passing of a state law in 2019, which allowed the statute of limitations for civil claims in sex abuse cases be extended several years.

Upon announcing the shrewd financial maneuver Tuesday, the district's archbishop, 67-year-old Salvatore Joseph Cordileone (center) appeared to brush off the allegations - on the basis that 'many occurred 30 or more years ago'

San Francisco's Roman Catholic archdiocese has filed for bankruptcy - the third Bay Area diocese to do so in a matter of months

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, as well as every bishop in Northern California, attempted to block the guidance at the time, and are now seeking to protect the dioceses' assets through the recent stream of filings.

The filing in this most recent instance will see all legal actions against the archdiocese indefinitely paused, giving it the opportunity to develop a settlement plan with abuse survivors.

Previously, the diocese settled roughly $87 million worth of sex abuse cases against priests and others within the church in 2018, with Archbishop Cordileone at the time saying those cases applied to alleged instances that happened in the past 15 years.

It now appears the multimillion-dollar figure represented just a fraction of the problem in the Archdiocese - which was erected on July 29, 1853, by then Pope Pius IX, and has employed more 4,000 priests since 1950.

The Golden State passed a law in 2019 that allowed a new chorus of voices from alleged victims forced to keep quiet by limitation laws to be heard.

The AB-218 law extended the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse civil claims, allowing claimants allegedly victimized during childhood to file lawsuits up until they are 40 years old.

It also allows claimants to file suit at any point within five years of discovering that the abuse caused them psychological injury - even if they are older than 40 - opening the door to a slew of claims that were previously off the table.

Sure enough, within months, prominent diocese in locales like Oakland, Santa Monic, and San Diego began to be bombarded with a new round of sexual abuse claims - with some stemming as far back as the 60s.

Only months removed from its $87.2 million settlement dished out on October 18 of the previous year, the Archdiocese of San Francisco was similarly not spared, with dozens and eventually hundreds of lawsuits filed in the ensuing months.

For the past four years, suits against the church district - which is alleged by a grand jury in Pennsylvania to have allowed hundreds of priests to molest some 1,000 children in the region - continued to pile up, culminating in the 'more than 500' mentioned by Cordileone, 67, on Tuesday.

In a statement, the senior church official explained his group's decision to follow the examples set by his counterparts across the bay in Oakland and Santa Monica, announced in May and March, respectively.

'The unfortunate reality is that the Archdiocese has neither the financial means nor the practical ability to litigate all of these abuse claims individually,' said Cordileone - who was appointed in 2012 by then-Pope Benedict XIV - said in announcing the maneuver, which is being criticized as a shrewd plot to protect the church and its assets

All allege child sexual abuse by certain church officials, and more than 500 are currently held up in civil claims court. Seen here is the inside of the church districts flagship church St. Mary's Cathedral

'The unfortunate reality is that the Archdiocese has neither the financial means nor the practical ability to litigate all of these abuse claims individually,' said Cordileone - who was appointed in 2012 by then-Pope Benedict XIV - said.

'And therefore, after much consideration, concluded that the bankruptcy process was the best solution for providing fair and equitable compensation to the innocent survivors who have been harmed,' he said.

'We believe the bankruptcy process is the best way to provide a compassionate and equitable solution for survivors of abuse while ensuring that we continue the vital ministries to the faithful and the communities that rely on our services and charity.'

That said, the 88 parishes and schools within the diocese, which serves 442,000 Catholics across three Northern California counties, will continue to operate as usual - given the fact they are independently managed and 'self-financed,' and thus not subject to the filing.

Moreover, legally inclined experts are already citing this arrangement, and chalking it up to another alleged attempt from the diocese to protect their assets and avoid any further payouts.

Included in this class is Jeff Anderson, an attorney representing over 125 survivors in the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

In a statement Tuesday after the archdiocese's revelation, Anderson reiterated this belief - already aired by several lawyers representing survivors from other diocese across the state. In particular, he singled out the district's top clergyman in Cordileone.

Survivors are calling the maneuver a shrewd one designed keep information hidden and protect the district's assets. Protesters are seen hold up signs in front of the archdiocese headquarters in San Francisco in 2010, back when limitation laws did not allow many alleged victims to bring their alleged abusers to court. That changed in 2019, with a new state law

The head of one of the most prominent dioceses in the county, Cordileone has established himself as one of the most prominent and outspoken of the hardline conservatives within the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Joey Piscitelli of SNAP, a survivors´ network for clergy sex abuse victims who in 2018 made waves by claiming the beneficiaries of the $87 settlement served as 'just the tip' or the San Francisco survivor iceberg, also said it doubts the district is as financially strapped as it claims

'Cordileone will use every tactic and tool at his disposal to continue to run from the truth.

'He refuses to identify offenders in his diocese, he attempts legal maneuvers to eliminate the California Child Victims Act, and now he is attempting a last-ditch effort to hide the truth behind bankruptcy,' he said - before pointing to the fact the San Francisco archdiocese is the only diocese in California yet to release a list of clergy accused of sexual abuse.

The filing will also pause the trials that were set to happen in May, to allow officials the opportunity to reorganize and make a plan for settlements, and to keep operating while it addresses the lawsuits collectively, rather than individually.

SNAP, a survivors´ network for clergy sex abuse victims who in 2018 made waves by claiming the beneficiaries of the $87 settlement served as 'just the tip' or the San Francisco survivor iceberg, also said it doubts the district is as financially strapped as it claims.

`We seriously doubt that the Archdiocese of San Francisco does not have the assets to settle these lawsuits,' SNAP said in a statement immediately after Cordileone's

'We can only hope that the federal judge closely examines the Archdiocese´s real estate holdings, which are spread across three of the richest counties in the United States.'

To this, Cordileone simply said that a list of priests and deacons who are in good standing can be found on the Archdiocese website, and that those under investigation for are prohibited from exercising public ministry and are removed from the list.

He added that the filing is necessary to manage more than 500 lawsuits still looming against them - while claiming the 'overwhelming majority' of the claims stem from allegations of sexual abuse that occurred 'more than 30 years ago' involving priests who are no longer active in ministry or are deceased.

Survivors, meanwhile, criticized the bankruptcy filing, which will not affect the dozens of Catholic schools in the diocese, and will see vendors still be paid for all goods and services delivered.

People like Anderson, as well as fellow Bay Area lawyer and survivor representative Joe George, are calling it a ploy to keep information hidden.

The head of one of the most prominent dioceses in the county, Cordileone has established himself as one of the most prominent and outspoken of the hardline conservatives within the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The announcement from the archdiocese did not speak on any of the accused, said that a list of priests and deacons who are in good standing can be found on the Archdiocese website, and that those under investigation for are prohibited from exercising public ministry and are removed from the list

He attracted national attention in May 2022 when he said that then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a San Francisco resident, would be barred from receiving Communion in his archdiocese because of her support for abortion rights.

He made headlines in 2018 when he spearheaded the effort to stop California's adoption of the new limitation law, which is almost identical to one filed in New York that same year.

In the time since, multiple Bay Area diocese have chosen to file for bankruptcy rather than brave the cases being brought against them, with the San Francisco Archdiocese the third in the region to do so.

Months earlier The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland filed for bankruptcy, and months before that, The Diocese of Santa Rosa did the same.

The diocese of San Diego, one of the largest in the country and the state, also announced in May that it was planning to file a similar proceeding later this year.

The San Francisco Archdiocese serves about 440,000 Catholics in the counties of San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo.