LOS ANGELES (AP) - Cardinal Roger Mahony was deposed in a lawsuit over a fugitive ex-priest suspected of molesting as many as 26 children in Los Angeles in the 1980s.

The Los Angeles Daily News reports (http://bit.ly/Wj7lXe ) Mahony's closed-door deposition Saturday was about Father Nicholas Aguilar Rivera, who fled the country in 1988 as he was being investigated on multiple charges of sexual abuse.

Attorney Anthony De Marco is suing the Archdiocese of Los Angeles on behalf of one of Aguilar Rivera's alleged victims. The now-defrocked priest is believed to be hiding in Mexico.

De Marco said in an email to the newspaper that the deposition "went well," but declined to comment further about it due to court orders.

Mahony, who retired as LA archbishop in 2011, has faced criticism over his handling of sex abuse allegations.

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