BBC News
October 16, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7048022.stm
A judge in Los Angeles has dismissed a lawsuit against a Mexican cardinal accused of conspiring to move a known child abuser to the US Catholic church.
The judge said there was not enough evidence to try Cardinal Norberto Rivera in a US court, the plaintiff's lawyer told the Associated Press.
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| The US Catholic Church has been shaken by a series of abuse claims |
The plaintiff alleged that Mr Rivera sent the priest to the Los Angeles diocese knowing he had abused children.
Cardinal Rivera said he was unaware of claims against the priest.
The priest fled to Mexico less than a year after he arrived in Los Angeles, having been accused of sexual abuse in the Californian city.
He was subsequently charged in California with 19 offences of committing a lewd act on a child.
'Complicity'
A spokesman for Cardinal Rivera in Mexico City told the Associated Press news agency that the cardinal welcomed the Los Angeles judge's "careful, fair decision".
"We are happy and satisfied that the judge confirmed what we have always said: this isn't a case to be judged in the United States," he said.
A lawyer for the plaintiff said the judge had dismissed the case on a "legal technicality".
He said his client, aged 26, intended to pursue a lawsuit in Mexico's courts.
The priest's current whereabouts are unknown.
The US Roman Catholic Church has been shaken by a series of abuse claims.
In July, the diocese of Los Angeles agreed a record $660m deal to settle 508 abuse cases, some going back to the 1940s.
And last month, the diocese of San Diego, also in California, agreed to pay $198m (£97m) to settle 144 claims of sexual abuse by clergy.
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