California man sues Vatican for names of abusers worldwide

LOS ANGELES — A California man who says he was sexually abused by a priest decades ago is suing the Vatican, seeking the release of the names of all offenders within the church worldwide.

Manny Vega, a 52-year-old former police officer and Marine, said Thursday that he’s fighting for the truth for himself and other victims of sex abuse by Catholic priests.

“We were raped,” Vega said. “It happened to me, it happened to my friends, and it happens to children all across the world, and it continues to happen at the hands of the Catholic church, whose inaction continues to damage children.”

Jeffrey Lena, the Vatican’s U.S. lawyer, declined to comment but has previously said similar lawsuits are attempts “to use the judicial process as a tool of media relations.”

Vega’s lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court in California, accuses the Vatican of placing the Rev. Fidencio Silva-Flores in a position of power at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Oxnard and says it should have known he posed a danger to children.

The lawsuit alleges that Silva-Flores sexually abused Vega between 1979 and 1984. Silva-Flores was charged with 25 counts of molestation in 2003, but the case was dismissed.

The lawsuit seeks an order for the Vatican to release the names of abusers in what Anderson said is more than 3,400 credible cases. It seeks the names of anyone found guilty of sexual misconduct to be turned over to law enforcement.