The Archdiocese of New York has reached a proposed settlement exceeding $800 million with 1,300 people who accused Catholic clergy members and lay leaders of sexual abuse, following years of litigation and financial pressure.

Attorneys representing the accusers said Friday that all plaintiffs had accepted the revised agreement, resolving a major obstacle to one of the largest sexual abuse settlements involving the Catholic Church in the United States.

Archbishop Ronald A. Hicks confirmed the development Saturday in a message to priests, according to The New York Times, while cautioning that the agreement would not become final until all parties formally signed it.

“We are on the verge of being able to, please God, bring some measure of healing and reconciliation to all victim-survivors,” Hicks wrote.

Under the proposed agreement, each claimant could choose a lump-sum payment of at least $250,000 or pursue a potentially larger award determined through a review of the alleged abuse. The archdiocese would also be required to publish the names of clergy members and lay leaders credibly accused of sexual abuse and update the list as additional allegations are substantiated.

The settlement nearly fell apart after a small group of plaintiffs objected that the proposed compensation was inadequate. Attorneys warned that without unanimous agreement, the archdiocese could be forced into bankruptcy, potentially delaying payments and reducing the amounts available to survivors.

To resolve the dispute, the archdiocese negotiated with an insurer to increase the fund for the remaining holdouts to $20 million, which would be divided equally among them, the Times reported.

Trusha Goffe, an attorney with Jeff Anderson & Associates, notified the firm's nearly 300 clients Friday that the remaining objections had been resolved.

“All of the survivors agreed to the revised deal. This means that the settlement you agreed to will move forward,” Goffe wrote.

The agreement follows years of financial strain on the archdiocese, which has sold property and cut expenses while seeking to resolve the claims. An earlier $800 million proposal announced in late April included an initial payment of approximately $615 million, followed by another $185 million within about 15 months.

Much of the litigation stems from New York's Child Victims Act, which established a temporary window for survivors to file lawsuits over childhood sexual abuse that otherwise would have been barred by statutes of limitations.

The Archdiocese of New York serves Manhattan, the Bronx, Staten Island and seven counties north of New York City.

Other Catholic archdioceses have reached major settlements involving similar allegations. The Archdiocese of San Francisco agreed in June to a $395 million settlement covering approximately 530 accusers, while the Archdiocese of Los Angeles reached an $880 million agreement in 2024. The Los Angeles archdiocese's total abuse-related payouts have since exceeded $1.5 billion.

Paul Mones, whose law firm represents 33 plaintiffs in the New York litigation, said the agreement reflected the persistence of survivors who continued pursuing compensation through years of legal proceedings.

“The survivors showed an amazing amount of perseverance and patience here,” Mones told the Times. “After a lifetime of pain and struggle, they mustered the energy to push that final mile. And hopefully this deal will give them a degree of solace and healing.”