L.A. Court Lacks Right To Try Cardinal, Lawyer Says

By IOAN GRILLO, Associated Press
February 27, 2007

MEXICO CITY — A Los Angeles court has no legal right to try Mexico's most prominent cardinal for complicity in the alleged rape of a child by a Mexican priest, the cardinal's lawyer said Sunday.

Bernardo Fernandez, who represents Cardinal Norberto Rivera, said only a Mexican court has the authority to rule on the lawsuit.

"The plaintiff is Mexican, complaining about alleged acts that happened in Mexico City in 1994, and the suit is against Mexicans," Mr. Fernandez told reporters after Cardinal Rivera celebrated Sunday Mass in the capital's downtown cathedral. "Mexican tribunals should oversee this case."

In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in September, Joaquin Aguilar Mendez alleges he was raped by priest Nicolas Aguilar in Mexico City in 1994 when he was 12 years old.

Documents filed with the court say Aguilar Mendez had gone to the priest's room at the rectory to use a restroom when he was grabbed by the priest and sodomized.

The alleged rape came after the priest had been charged with 19 felony counts of committing lewd acts on a child in California.

The suit alleges that Cardinal Rivera conspired with Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony to protect Father Aguilar. It accuses Cardinals Rivera and Mahony of negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy, and sexual battery, and charges Father Aguilar with sexual battery.

Proponents of the suit argue that the case should involve the Los Angeles court because it is a cross-border issue involving church officials from both countries.

On Sunday, Mr. Fernandez denied that Cardinal Rivera helped Father Aguilar return to Mexico after his nine-month stint as a priest in Los Angeles in 1988.

"Cardinal Norberto Rivera has never hidden Father Aguilar from justice," Mr. Fernandez said, adding that Father Aguilar did not work under Cardinal Rivera's charge following his return to Mexico.

Cardinal Rivera refused to talk to the press.

Church officials in Los Angeles have denounced the legal action, saying it is baseless.

Father Aguilar worked as a parish priest in the Mexican state of Puebla in 1986 and 1987 when Cardinal Rivera was bishop. The lawsuit alleges that Cardinal Rivera helped cover up the abuse of 50 boys there.

In 1988, Father Aguilar transferred to Los Angeles, where he worked for nine months.

A Los Angeles court gave Mexico extradition orders for Father Aguilar in 1988 and 1993, but Father Aguilar continued to work as a priest in Mexico. Since the filing of the lawsuit, his whereabouts have been unknown.

The legal action is backed by the Chicago-based Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. As many as 60 accusers from Mexico and America have come forward with allegations against Father Aguilar, the suit says.