The Archdiocese of Santa Fe (, ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the southwestern region of the United States in the state of New Mexico. While the mother church, the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, is in the city of Santa Fe, its administrative center is in the city of Albuquerque. The Diocese comprises the counties of Rio Arriba, Taos, Colfax, Union, Mora, Harding, Los Alamos, Sandoval, Santa Fe, San Miguel, Quay, Bernalillo, Valencia, Socorro, Torrance, Guadalupe, De Baca, Roosevelt, and Curry. The current archbishop is John Charles Wester, who was installed on June 4, 2015. The Archdiocese announced it would file for bankruptcy protection on November 29, 2018, in the face of dozens of ongoing lawsuits stemming from a sexual abuse scandal that stretches back decades and a new investigation by the state's attorney general into the Catholic Church's handling of misconduct by its clergy. Bankruptcy was then filed in June 2019, followed by a bankruptcy plan in October 2022. History Origins of Catholicism in New Mexico The History of Catholicism in the Santa Fe area began in the mid 16th century, with the arrival of the Spanish to the area. While conquistadors had already passed through what is now known as New Mexico in search of gold and silver as early as 1527, the first permanent settlement did not arrive in the area until 1598. In that year, Juan de Oñate arrived from New Spain with 500 Spanish settlers and nearly 7,000 head of livestock that. With him came ten Franciscan priests, that established the first Spanish missions in New Mexico. One in particular, the San Miguel Mission, is considered one of the oldest church structures originally built in the continental United States. The original adobe walls and altar were built by the Tlaxcalan Indians from Mexico in 1610, but much of the structure was rebuilt in 1710 (See List of the oldest churches in the United States). In 1608, the Franciscans converted over 7,000 natives to Catholicism. While the natives attended mass and behaved like Catholics, the native Pueblo people continued practice their local customs and beliefs, much to the chagrin of the missionaries. Despite attempts to outlaw the use of entheogenic drugs, and the seizure of masks, prayer sticks, and effigies used in religious ceremonies, the attempts to fully convert the natives was never fully successful. While the missionaries' early