MEXICO: U.S. lawyers grill top Mexican cardinal Norbeto Rivera in abuse case

Mexico cardinal Norberto Rivera has given a deposition to U.S. lawyers in a sex abuse case. Mexico's top clergyman, Cardinal Norberto Rivera, was questioned by U.S. lawyers on Wednesday (August 8) in a child sex abuse case that is a new blow to the Roman Catholic Church in its second-largest stronghold. The lawyers met with Rivera at the capital's archdiocese building to ask about charges in a U.S. civil case that he colluded with Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony to protect a Mexican priest wanted for multiple child rapes. Rivera, a vocal figure in Mexican public life, was set to be questioned for at least six hours. "As a sign of transparency and cooperation, the Cardinal Norbeto Rivera Carrera, decided to give his deposition in the offices of the Archbishop to the lawyers of the Joaquin Aguilar and a representative of the Los Angeles court that supervises this act. He is not a judge nor is this a trial," said a spokesperson for the Mexican Archdiocese Hugo Valdemar. Abuse scandals have rocked the Catholic Church around the world and the Los Angeles diocese this year agreed to pay a 660 million U.S. dollar settlement to victims. In Mexico, sexual abuse cases against the church have rarely come to trial but last year the cardinal was accused of covering up abuse in a civil suit lodged in Los Angeles. "The Cardinal in Los Angeles decided to indemnify, he has his reasons, I don't know which they are. We have always thought that this has no foundations, that is a slander against the Catholic church and the Cardinal. We are not prepared to enter those arrangements," said Valdemar. The attorneys argue that former altar boy Joaquin Aguilar Mendez was raped aged 13 in Mexico in 1994 by a priest named Nicolas Aguilar, who the church shunted between Mexico and the United States to avoid abuse charges. "We know that it will take years to prove that paedophiles hide in Mexico and the cardinals don't do anything and justice can't be had in Mexico, that's why we have to take this to foreign courts," said Eric Barragan, spokesman for SNAP, a U.S.-based group for victims of sex abuse by priests. The church is one of Mexico's most important institutions but has been losing influence as lawmakers in the capital legalised abortion and gay civil unions. Evangelical churches also are gaining ground in Mexico while legislators are studying liberalising laws against euthanasia and prostitution, despite objections from the church. Rivera, once seen as an outside candidate to succeed Pope John Paul II, says the Los Angeles court does not have jurisdiction over him because the incidents in the altar boy's allegations all took place in Mexico. Rivera, whose Mexico City diocese is one of the world's largest, is accused of sending the priest to Los Angeles briefly, knowing that he was a paedophile who later raped the altar boy in Mexico's Puebla state in 1994. The priest is believed to be on the run in Mexico and is wanted on multiple charges of sexually abusing boys in California. He has not been excommunicated. The two cardinals have contradicted each other's version of events. Mahony says the Mexican church did not warn him of Aguilar's record when the priest arrived in Los Angeles. Mahony publicly apologised after Mass one Sunday last month to more than 500 plaintiffs in priest abuse cases in Los Angeles who received the record 660 million U.S. dollar settlement.

ITN Source | August 9, 2007

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