MEXICO
Mexico News Daily
A senior official of the Catholic Church in Mexico announced his resignation yesterday, the same day that a former priest filed accusations that Cardinal Norberto Rivera had concealed 15 cases of pedophilia by priests.
Rivera presented his resignation as Primate Archbishop of Mexico to church authorities, complying with regulations that require prelates to retire upon reaching the age of 75.
Rivera will turn 75 next Tuesday, said a spokesman of the Archdiocese of Mexico.
The accusation that Rivera covered up multiple cases of child sex abuse committed by priests throughout the country was filed before the federal Attorney General’s office (PGR) by Alberto Athié Gallo, a priest who resigned in 2000 over what he saw as the systematic concealment of pedophilia in the church.
Accompanied by alleged victims of pedophile priests, Athié told a press conference that Rivera reported cases of sexual abuse of minors to Catholic authorities in the Vatican, but bypassed authorities in Mexico.
Athié recalled that last December Rivera declared he had never protected a pedophile and cited at least 15 cases in the Archdiocese of México of priests who had been tried and sentenced.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.