In 2020, the ongoing sexual abuse scandal in the archdiocese was expected to result in payment of $126 million to victims.

The archdiocese includes the following suffragan dioceses: The history of the Catholic Church in the area dates back to William Penn when Mass was said publicly as early as 1707.

[3] In 1961, Pope John XXIII erected the Diocese of Allentown, taking several northern counties from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Queen of the Universe Day Center was added in 1980 to serve students with mental retardation in Bucks County.

Leadership within the Archdiocese of Philadelphia envisioned a continued comprehensive education for secondary students.

Cardinal Justin Francis Rigali adopted the policy of laicizing those who were accused and confirmed by investigations.

A second grand jury in 2011 said that as many as 37 priests were credibly accused of sexual abuse or inappropriate behavior toward minors.

In 2012, a guilty plea by priest Edward Avery and the related trial and conviction of William Lynn and mistrial on charges against James J. Brennan followed from the grand jury's investigations.

On March 12, 2020, a new trial date was set for Lynn, who was released in 2016 and ordered to be retried after serving 33 months of his sentence.

[28] The archdiocese also said its Independent Reconciliation and Reparations Program, which was established in 2018, has received a total of 615 claims, and had settled 208 of them for $43.8 million as of April 22, 2020.

[30] On December 3, 2020, William McCandless, a member of the Wilmington-based religious order Oblates de St. Francis De Sales who was formerly assigned to DeSales University in Lehigh County, was charged in Philadelphia for possession of child pornography.

[33] In 2015, it was reported that the school's director of religious education, Margie Winters, had been fired from the Waldron Mercy Academy after a parent had reported her directly to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for marrying her long-term lesbian partner in a civil ceremony in 2007.

Winters had been upfront with school administrators at the time of her hiring and was advised to keep a low profile which she says she did.

Principal Nell Stetser justified the decision by arguing that "many of us accept life choices that contradict current Church teachings, but to continue as a Catholic school, Waldron Mercy must comply with those teachings."

But she called for "an open and honest discussion about this and other divisive issues at the intersection of our society and our Church."