Mexico City ? A group of sexual abuse survivors filed a lawsuit Tuesday against a Mexican cardinal, claiming he hid evidence to protect a priest accused of molesting boys.

A lawyer for the Chicago-based Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against Cardinal Norberto Rivera, who was considered a candidate to replace Pope John Paul II when he died last year.

The network announced in Mexico City that it had filed the lawsuit, saying it would give details in a news conference today. Rivera’s office promised a statement with its reaction.

The survivors’ group alleges Rivera, now Mexico’s top-ranking cardinal, helped cover up abuse by the Rev. Nicolas Aguilar involving 50 boys when Aguilar served as a parish priest in central Puebla state in 1987. Rivera was bishop of Tehuacan in Puebla state at the time.

Rivera, according to the group, later helped in Aguilar’s transfer to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Aguilar has been charged in California with 19 felony counts of committing lewd acts on a child.

The network said as many as 60 alleged victims from both Mexico and the U.S. have come forward with cases against Aguilar.