BishopAccountability.org
	Church in Mexico Asserts It Doesn't Hide Abusers Responds to Allegations against Cardinal Rivera Zenit September 21, 2006 http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=95258 Mexico City, Sept. 21, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The Church in Mexico reacted swiftly in the face of allegations, made by a lawsuit in the United States, that sexual abuse by clergy was concealed. In a communiqué signed by Bishop Carlos Aguiar Retes, secretary-general of the Mexican episcopal conference, the prelates express their "distress and solidarity" with victims of all kinds of sexual abuse, and condemn "the pederastic actions of any human being, whether priest, religious or lay." "The crime of pederasty must always be denounced and condemned, never concealed, so that we reiterate our willingness to collaborate with the authorities in charge of obtaining and imparting justice," stresses the communiqué published Wednesday. In regard to accusations made in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles, the Mexican bishops were confident that "the authorities will keep to the rigorous search for the truth, in respect of the principle of presumed innocence." In a separate communiqué signed by spokesman Father Hugo Valdemar Romero, the Archdiocese of Mexico described an accusation of "international conspiracy" against Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera as "grave and disproportionate." The lawsuit was lodged by the Survivors' Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and plaintiff Joaquín Aguilar, who accused the primate of Mexico of concealing Father Nicolás Aguilar Rivera. Warning issued The communiqué stated that Cardinal Rivera Carrera "has always deplored and condemned publicly the perverse crime of pederasty; he has warned his priests that if one of them offends he will have to face the consequences of his acts before the tribunals, both canonical as well as civil, without enjoying any protection by the archdiocese." It added: "On repeated occasions, he has appealed to the faithful publicly that if they know of a case of sexual abuse that it be reported both to the civil as well as the ecclesiastical authorities. "It is surprising that Mr. Joaquín Aguilar and the SNAP association, act with profound disregard for Mexican laws and our country's judicial authority, lodging a lawsuit of an alleged crime committed in Mexico City in a foreign court, that of the state of California." The communiqué of the archdiocese added that "Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera at no time concealed Father Nicolás Aguilar, nor has he participated in any conspiracy to give asylum in Mexico to delinquent priests accused of sexual abuses. … "Once notified by the official channels of the lawsuit lodged today in Los Angeles, California, according to his lawyers, he reserves the right to give the appropriate answer to the legal requirements that he judges suitable."
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.