William Levada
William Joseph Levada was an American Catholic prelate who served as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 2005 to 2012. During that time, he was the highest-ranking American in the Roman Curia. He was previously the Archbishop of Portland in Oregon from 1986 to 1995 and Archbishop of San Francisco from 1995 to 2005. During his tenure, he was criticized for covering up sexual abuse by priests within his jurisdiction. He was created a cardinal in 2006 by Pope Benedict XVI.
Early life and clerical formation
William Joseph Levada was born in Long Beach, California, to Joseph and Lorraine Levada, both natives of Concord, California. His older sister, Dolores, died on May 21, 2007.His great-grandparents came from Portugal and Ireland, and emigrated to the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1860s. He grew up in Long Beach and Houston, Texas, attended St. Anthony High School Long Beach and then St. John's Seminary in Camarillo, part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles. At St. Anthony High School, his classmate was George Hugh Niederauer, later his successor as archbishop of San Francisco.
From 1958 to 1961, Levada studied at the North American College and did his theological studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He was ordained to the priesthood on December 20, 1961, by Archbishop Martin John O'Connor, rector of the Pontifical North American College and president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, in St. Peter's Basilica.
Priestly ministry
From 1961 until around 1966, Levada worked in parishes in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, including St. Louis of France in La Puente and St. Monica in Santa Monica. He also taught high school and worked in college campus ministry.After this, he returned to Rome and continued his studies at the North American College. He received a doctorate in sacred theology magna cum laude. His 1971 dissertation was written under Francis A. Sullivan, SJ, on "Infallible Church Magisterium and the Natural Moral Law". In the early 1970s, he taught theology at St. John's Seminary School of Theology in Camarillo, California. He was also named the first Director of Continuing Education for the Clergy in the archdiocese, and received the title Monsignor.
From 1976 to 1982, Levada was an official of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican, having been recommended by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin. He also taught part-time at the Pontifical Gregorian University. At the CDF, Levada served under three popes, and under two prefects of the CDF.
In 1982, Cardinal Timothy Manning, Archbishop of Los Angeles, named Levada as the executive director of the California Catholic Conference of Bishops which has its offices in Sacramento.
Episcopal ministry
Auxiliary in Los Angeles
Levada was appointed an auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles and titular bishop of Capri on March 25, 1983, and was consecrated by Cardinal Manning in the Cathedral of St. Vibiana on May 12. In 1984, he was appointed episcopal vicar of Santa Barbara County. In 1986, he was appointed chancellor and moderator of the archdiocesan curia. Serving under Cardinal Roger Mahony, a classmate of Levada's at seminary, he reorganized the internal structure of the archdiocese.Portland
On July 1, 1986, Levada became the Archbishop of Portland in Oregon. During his tenure in Portland, Levada helped to revitalize Mount Angel Seminary in St. Benedict, Oregon; Levada briefly taught at the seminary as well. Other work he undertook in Portland included reorganizing Catholic Charities, working in outreach to the Hispanic Catholic community, and renovating St. Mary's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. In 1987, he was appointed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, whom Pope John Paul II asked to develop the project for a new Catechism of the Catholic Church, to serve on its editorial committee, one of seven bishops whose task it was to prepare a draft of the catechism, conduct a consultation among the bishops of the world and many scholars, and develop a final text under the direction of a commission of twelve cardinals of which Cardinal Ratzinger was president.San Francisco
On August 17, 1995, Levada was appointed coadjutor archbishop of San Francisco, and on December 27 of the same year he succeeded John Raphael Quinn as the archbishop.When appointed archbishop of San Francisco in 1995, Levada was asked whether he expected to be created a cardinal at a news conference. "There is only one cardinal in California," he said at a time when Los Angeles, the largest diocese in the country, was still considered a cardinalatial see. "He is in Los Angeles. Being a cardinal is the consolation prize for not being the archbishop of San Francisco."
In November 2000, Levada was appointed one of the members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, where he again served under Cardinal Ratzinger. This was a part-time task which allowed him to remain in California.
Also in 2000, Levada became the bishop co-chair of the Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue in the United States. In November 2003, Levada was appointed as chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Doctrine. This was a three-year term, but he resigned in 2005 due to his new duties in Rome and was replaced by Arthur J. Serratelli, Bishop of Paterson.
On September 18, 1998, he was principal consecrator at the episcopal ordination of Monsignor John C. Wester as an auxiliary bishop of San Francisco. On January 30, 2003, he was principal consecrator of Monsignor Ignatius C. Wang as an additional auxiliary bishop of San Francisco. Bishop Wang, a native of Beijing, is the first Chinese and first Asian bishop to be ordained for a diocese in the United States.
As Archbishop of San Francisco, Levada also served as grand prior of the Northwest Lieutenancy of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, and as conventual chaplain for the Western Association of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta.
In 2013, Levada was a cardinal elector during the 2013 papal conclave.
Involvement in U.S. clerical sexual abuse and coverup
Some have criticized how Levada dealt with priests who had committed sexual abuse in Portland and in San Francisco.In 1985, as a contact of Boston's Cardinal Law about the issue, Levada was given a report by a three-man panel headed by Father Tom Doyle about medical, legal, and moral issues posed by abusive clerics in an attempt to present the report to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at their June 1985 meeting. A few days later Father Doyle was informed by Levada that their report would not be heard by the bishops. Weeks later, Doyle was demoted from his post in Vatican embassy.
In a 2008 interview Levada said: "I personally do not accept that there has been a broad base of bishops guilty of aiding and abetting pedophiles. If I thought there were, I would certainly want to talk to them about that."
As archbishop in Portland, Levada removed Father Joseph Baccellieri, a parish priest accused of child molestation, in 1992 but did not refer the matter to the police. In 1993, he learned of allegations that the priest had abused not one but three male victims. Levada authorized secret payments to the victims after they threatened to make the allegations public in a lawsuit. Levada allowed Baccellieri to return to duty in 1994 after he had undergone therapy and with the condition that he couldn't be around children and couldn't counsel adults or children. Levada did not inform parishioners or law enforcement about the allegations. Baccellieri went on to serve as a pastor or associate pastor in four Portland-area parishes between 1994 and 2001, when he went on leave to study canon law.
After spending $53 million to settle more than 100 claims of priestly sex abuse, Portland in 2004 became the first U.S. Roman Catholic archdiocese to declare bankruptcy.
In February 2013, Levada told the media that Cardinal Roger Mahony should be allowed to help select the next pope, even though Mahony had obstructed the investigation of child abusers while he headed the church in Los Angeles in the 1980s.
Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
On May 13, 2005, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Levada as his own successor in the post of Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.On March 24, 2006, Benedict XVI elevated Levada to the College of Cardinals. Levada was named cardinal deacon of Santa Maria in Domnica, which was later elevated to cardinal priest in 2016.
In addition to his position as prefect of the CDF, Cardinal Levada was ex officio the president of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, the International Theological Commission, and the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei. He was also a member of the Congregation for Bishops, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, the Congregation for Catholic Education, the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. On January 5, 2011, he was appointed among the first members of the newly created Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelisation.
Pope Benedict accepted his resignation as prefect on July 2, 2012. He was succeeded that same day by Gerhard Ludwig Müller.
Head of the Pontifical Commission ''Ecclesia Dei''
Cardinal Levada, who was already a member of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, the organ of the Holy See charged with seeking the reconciliation of the Society of St. Pius X and similar groups with Rome and regulating celebration of the Sacraments according to the 1962 texts in Latin, was appointed its president on July 8, 2009, in accordance with Pope Benedict XVI's motu proprio Ecclesiae Unitatem, which makes the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ex officio head of the Ecclesia Dei Commission. However, the commission has its own staff, consisting of a secretary and officials.On May 13, 2011, the instruction Universae Ecclesiae was published, which clarified certain aspects of Summorum Pontificum. Cardinal Levada, as president of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei signed the document which was approved by Pope Benedict XVI on April 8 and is dated April 30, the memorial of Pope Pius V. The instruction also contains within it the fruits of the triennial examination of the application of the law, which had been planned from the outset.