Pope Leo accepts resignation of embattled New Orleans archbishop Gregory Aymond

The archdiocese agreed to pay 600 abuse survivors a $305m settlement before the Vatican confirmed Aymond's exit

Pope Leo XIV accepted the resignation of the Roman Catholic archbishop of New Orleans, Gregory Aymond, on Wednesday - one day after the archbishop concluded a series of meetings with survivors of a clergy molestation scandal that has embroiled the city's church leadership for years.

Aymond had submitted his resignation to global Catholic church leaders at the Vatican, as he was required when he turned 75 in November 2024. But the Vatican didn't immediately accept it, plotting for Aymond to remain in position until the New Orleans archdiocese settled a federal bankruptcy protection case that it filed in the spring of 2020 amid the continuing fallout of the decades-old worldwide clerical abuse crisis.