Mexican Cardinal Says Church Used "Code" for Abuse

WASHINGTON — A Mexican cardinal who has been accused in a U.S. civil lawsuit of covering up child rape in Mexico and Southern California has said that Roman Catholic Church officials used coded language to communicate with one another about problem priests.

In a March 26 court filing that McClatchy Newspapers obtained, Cardinal Norberto Rivera, who oversees the Archdiocese of Mexico City, says he told Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony that a priest who is now wanted on criminal charges of child rape was moving from Mexico to Los Angeles for "family and health reasons."

"The phrase 'family and health reasons' was used within the church to warn that a priest suffers from some sort of problem," Rivera says in his written declaration.

I suppose at some point someone figured that "family and health reasons" was politically correct and would not be harmful to the self esteem and dignity of priests who also happened to be criminal perverts.

Rivera made the statement in a declaration filed in California Superior Court in which he argues that the court lacks jurisdiction to include him as a defendant. The declaration, while part of the court file, hadn't previously been made public.

Rivera implies that the court should focus on Mahony, who heads the largest Catholic diocese in the United States.

It's merely coincidental that Cardinal Mahony is selling off the chancery and other diocesan assets...