The Latin Americanist reported yesterday on a bombshell story: Mexico’s Archbishop, Norberto Rivera, is being sued for allegedly covering up for a priest who was molesting a former altar boy, along with L.A.’s Cardinal Mahoney. The Catholic News Service tells us more about this scandal:

A Mexican man is suing the cardinals of Mexico City and Los Angeles, claiming the cardinals covered up crimes of a priest accused of sexually abusing boys on both sides of the border.

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.

Rivera was one of the myriad priests that were candidates to succeed Pope John Paul II.

Via / The Latin Americanist and Catholic Online