Thread: Mexican cardinal's lawyer says U.S. court has no

Mexican cardinal's lawyer says U.S. court has no jurisdiction in sex-abuse case
By Jonathan Roeder
2/27/2007
Catholic News Service

MEXICO CITY (CNS) – A California court hearing a case of cover-up of clergy sexual abuse has no jurisdiction over Mexico City Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, said one of his lawyers.

In statements to the press Feb. 25, Bernardo Fernandez, a member of Cardinal Rivera's legal team, said the case was filed by a former Mexican altar boy against a Mexican priest and cardinal over alleged events in Mexico. Therefore, he argued, the case should be tried in Mexico.

Fernandez added that legal representatives of Cardinal Rivera had appeared "voluntarily and spontaneously" in Los Angeles Superior Court Feb. 20 to present his defense. He said his client had not received formal notification of the case against him from Los Angeles authorities.

Father Nicolas Aguilar Rivera, a Mexican priest whose location is currently unknown, has been accused of sexually abusing dozens of boys in Mexico and California. Joaquin Aguilar, 26, of no relation to the priest, claims the fugitive priest raped him in Mexico City in 1994 and that Cardinal Rivera and Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony have helped him evade justice.

Last September, Joaquin Aguilar filed a series of charges, including negligence, sexual battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress against Father Aguilar and Cardinals Rivera and Mahony.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, which is backing Joaquin Aguilar, accused Cardinal Rivera of trying to "lawyer his way out" of the charges.

"This is sad, predictable legal hairsplitting," SNAP said in a statement sent to Catholic News Service in response to Fernandez's statement. "Instead of facing the cover-up allegation, (Cardinal) Rivera is using technicalities to run from it. If (Cardinal) Rivera didn't hide or enable Aguilar's crimes, he should welcome the chance to prove this in court."

The Mexico City Archdiocese, in turn, accused SNAP of seeking to extort the Catholic Church.

"Cardinal Norberto Rivera never hid Father Aguilar from justice and has not covered up his whereabouts from authorities or church officials in either Mexico or California," said an editorial column in the archdiocese's weekly bulletin Feb. 26.

It also said SNAP had conducted a media campaign against Cardinal Rivera "based on lies, contradictions and slander."

Joaquin Aguilar and SNAP have argued that Cardinal Rivera knew about Father Aguilar's past abuses when the priest was transferred to Los Angeles in 1987. At the time, Cardinal Rivera was bishop of Tehuacan in Puebla, Father Aguilar's native state.

Cardinal Rivera has said that he warned Cardinal Mahony of Father Aguilar's "homosexual problems," but Cardinal Mahony claims he never received notification of the previous accusations of abuse.

Father Aguilar fled to Mexico after being accused of molesting 20 boys while serving in the Los Angeles Archdiocese. Mexican authorities never responded to requests that he be arrested and sent to California to face trial.


http://www.catholic.org/international/i ... p?id=23199

A California court hearing a case of cover-up of clergy sexual abuse has no jurisdiction over Mexico City Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, said one of his lawyers.

Good! Then there's no need for the NAU--end of discussion.