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	Priests Ask Vatican to Punish Mexican Cleric Accused of Child Abuse Associated Press, carried in North County Times January 9, 2007 http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/01/10/faith/18_21_311_9_07.txt Mexico -- Several Roman Catholic priests in the central Mexican state of Puebla have asked the Vatican to strip a fellow cleric accused of child abuse of his priestly privileges, church officials said Tuesday. The Vatican has yet to rule on the request filed two weeks ago by Puebla priests against Rev. Nicolas Aguilar, said the Rev. Eugenio Lira, a spokesman for the archdioceses of Puebla. Aguilar was charged in California with 19 felony counts of committing lewd acts on a child in 1988 after he worked as a priest there for nine months. Aguilar then fled to Mexico, working as a priest in various parishes. Last year, he was named in two lawsuits filed in California against Cardinal Norberto Rivera of Mexico City and Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony. The lawsuits, which are in the name of two alleged victims of Aguilar, accuse the two cardinals of conspiring to protect the priest. Both cardinals deny the charges and Rivera has urged Aguilar to hand himself into authorities. Lira said the whereabouts of Aguilar are currently unknown.
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