A US FEDERAL judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Mexico City Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera that accused him of conspiring to transfer a priest accused of sexual abuse from Mexico to the United States.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elibu Berle said there was not enough evidence to hold Cardinal Rivera accountable in a US court in Joaquin Aguilar Mendez's complaint that, as Bishop of Tehuacan in the state of Puebla, Cardinal Rivera transferred a priest accused of molesting minors. The suit alleged that the priest was transferred out of Mexico to protect him from prosecution despite Church officials knowing of the accusations that he molested boys. Fle then went on to abuse more youths in the United States, it alleged. Mr Aguilar Mendez. 26, says Fr Nicolas Aguilar Rivera (no relation to either the accuser or Cardinal Rivera) sexually assaulted him when he was 13, when the priest was assigned to a Los Angeles parish. The lawsuit also originally included Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles, who was accused of shielding the priest, but the cardinal said he was never told about the abuse accusations.
Mr Aguilar Mendez told reporters in Los Angeles that his attorneys would file an appeal against Berle's ruling, in hopes of having Cardinal Rivera tried in the United States.
"Norberto Rivera will not escape. I knew this was going to take time," he said.