Vatican Upholds Excommunication of US Deacon After Son's Molestation

The Roman Catholic Church has officially upheld the excommunication of Scott Peyton, a Louisiana deacon who resigned from his clerical duties after his son was molested by a priest. Peyton had joined an Anglican congregation following the incident, a move that led to his expulsion from the Catholic Church.

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), the Vatican body responsible for clerical discipline, rejected Peyton's appeal on technical grounds. The decision was communicated to Peyton by Bishop J Douglas Deshotel of the Diocese of Lafayette. The DDF cited Peyton's public declaration of joining the Anglican church on social media as a refusal to submit to the authority of Pope Leo XIV.