Vatican upholds excommunication of US deacon who resigned after son was molested by priest

Scott Peyton joined the Anglicans after the crime against his son. Then the Catholic church officially expelled him

The Roman Catholic church has upheld the excommunication of a Louisiana deacon who resigned from the clergy after a priest molested his son.

Scott Peyton learned of the decision by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) - the Vatican entity in charge of Catholic clerical discipline - on Friday in a meeting with the bishop of the diocese of Lafayette, J Douglas Deshotel. The DDF cited technical grounds in rejecting Peyton's appeal, saying he had joined an Anglican congregation, published [that] fact ... on social media" and therefore refused to submit to the Catholic pope, who since May 2025 has been Leo XIV.