| International News

In a civil suit filed in California, the man accused Cardinals Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles and Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City of negligence, claiming they aided the flight of Father Nicolas Aguilar Rivera and that they were partially responsible for sexual battery due to their negligence.

Spokesmen for both cardinals denied the charges.

In a Los Angeles court Sept. 19, Joaquin Aguilar Mendez of Mexico City filed the suit against the cardinals and the Diocese of Tehuacan, Mexico, and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Aguilar alleged the cardinals transferred a Mexican priest to the United States in 1987 despite knowing that he had a record of molesting minors in Mexico. Cardinal Rivera headed the Diocese of Tehuacan at the time.

At a Sept. 20 press conference in Mexico City, Aguilar said the cardinals also helped Father Aguilar flee Los Angeles and return to Mexico, where Aguilar claims the priest raped him in 1994 when he was a 13-year-old altar boy.

"The only thing I want and ask for is that justice be done," said Aguilar, now 25, who was flanked by his lawyers.

Tod Tamberg, spokesman for the Los Angeles Archdiocese, said in a telephone interview the claims were "preposterous and without foundation." Father Hugo Valdemar Romero, spokesman for the Mexico City Archdiocese, called the accusations "grave and out of proportion."

"Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera never at any time covered up for Father Nicolas Aguilar, nor has he participated in any conspiracy to give asylum in Mexico to any criminal priests accused of sexual abuse," Father Valdemar said.

Tamberg said when officials of the Los Angeles Archdiocese suspected Father Aguilar of sexually abusing children they immediately reported him to authorities and "promptly removed him from all ministry."

The lawsuit cites a letter in which Cardinal Mahony denied receiving a letter from Cardinal Rivera in which the Mexican prelate claimed to have advised the Los Angeles Archdiocese of the priest's sexual problems before the transfer.

Cardinal Mahony said in the letter, "I never received any letter ... with information regarding 'the priest's homosexual problem.'"

Tamberg said the correspondence does not indicate in any way that Cardinal Mahony was covering up for the priest.

"Cardinal Mahony's letters to Mexico indicate that he urgently wanted to see (Father) Aguilar Rivera located and brought to justice," he said.

Father Valdemar accused the plaintiff in the case of having "dark intentions far removed from any authentic justice for the victims."

Aguilar's lawyers painted a picture of complacency and cover-ups, saying Cardinal Rivera sent Father Aguilar to Los Angeles to avoid a scandal in his own diocese.

The lawyers produced a letter they said was signed by Cardinal Rivera. The letter said the priest suffered from "homosexual problems" before being transferred.

Then, the lawyers said, the Diocese of Tehuacan and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles helped the priest elude arrest warrants in Los Angeles after he allegedly molested at least 20 boys during the nine months he was in the Los Angeles Archdiocese. The lawsuit alleges church leaders then helped Father Aguilar return to Mexico, where the lawyers say he is still saying Mass in rural towns.

Jeff Anderson, Aguilar's head lawyer, said, "Both of them (cardinals) participated in an effort to protect this offender with the goal of protecting the reputation of the dioceses and put that over the safety of the children."

Aguilar said the priest is believed to have molested nearly 80 children since the 1960s. He said he had reported the sexual attack against him to Mexican police, but the charges were dismissed for lack of evidence.

Father Aguilar was convicted of child abuse in Mexico in 2003 but was not jailed.

Anderson said he hired a private investigator who tracked the priest to the town of Jonacatepec in Morelos state, where he was living out of his car and saying Sunday Mass at several small parishes.

Phones rang unanswered in the Cuernavaca Diocese, which encompasses the Jonacatepec area.

Father Valdemar said it would be "very grave" if Father Aguilar was still celebrating Mass.

Anderson said his legal team will ask the court to order the dioceses of Tehuacan and Los Angeles to pay Aguilar a still-undetermined amount of money for his "suffering and emotional trauma." He said the claim that Cardinal Rivera participated in an international conspiracy makes him subject to California law.