Names Pope U.S. Archbishop to Oversee Church Doctrine
By Ian Fisher and Laurie Goodstein
INTERNATIONAL / EUROPE | May 14, 2005
Joseph Radzinger, now Pope Benenedict XVI, has given
his old job as enforcer and head of dogma for the Roman
Catholic church (formerly known as the 'Pontifical
Office For The Inquisition') to an American Arch Bishop
who protected the identity of child molesting Roman
Catholic clergy. When Radzinger held the post before
becoming pope he reissued the 'Solicitaccionnes Criminale'
directive instructing Bishops to effectively obstruct
justice in the protection of the identity of such
pedophiles at the expense of the child victims.
In a world free from the political corruption of
justice one must wonder why Radzinger is not being
criminally prosecuted for accessory to obstruct justice. Now
as pope he has given the job to a colleague who
complied with the papal directive.
ROME, May 13 - Pope Benedict XVI named an American
archbishop the guardian of church doctrine on Friday, and
said he would speed up the process to make his popular
predecessor, John Paul II, a saint.
For 24 years, until he was elected pope last month,
Benedict, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, held the
doctrinal job, which rules on what the church allows and
does not, and is thus one of the most powerful and
contentious posts in the church.
On Friday he named William J. Levada, 68, archbishop
of San Francisco, to be his successor.
Archbishop Levada (pronounced leh-VAY-dah), a friend
of Benedict's who worked with him over many years, is
the first American to lead the body, the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith, and becomes the
highest-ranking American ever at the Vatican.
Colleagues describe him as a conservative who is fair
and broad-minded, a man who brings both previous
experience in the doctrinal office and 22 years as a bishop
in the United States. He is also a theologian who has
staunchly defended church teaching on many of the
social issues confronting the church, including abortion,
homosexuality, euthanasia and the role of women.
As the leader of the church in two liberal cities, he
often found himself at odds with the prevailing
political climate. In Portland, Ore., he helped lead the
fight against a statewide initiative that legalized
assisted suicide, which ultimately passed. In San
Francisco, he opposed allowing gay couples to get marriage
licenses, but did not put himself or the church at the
forefront of the battle.
In his new job, he will also be responsible for
reviewing all reports of sexual abuse involving priests that
are forwarded from bishops around the world.
However, he has come under criticism from a victims'
support group, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by
Priests, for failing to remove accused priests from
active ministry in San Francisco, and for keeping church
documents about accused priests secret.
In a news conference on Friday in San Francisco,
Archbishop Levada said his experience with the sex
scandals, which has deeply wounded the church in America, may
have been one reason Benedict chose him.
"He did not mention that to me, but I know that is a
very, very strong concern of his," Archbishop Levada
said. "It seems logical to me that one of the
considerations he would make would be my familiarity with the
situation in the United States."
Since Benedict was chosen April 19 to be the 265th
pope, he has given few clues to his concrete program -
and at 78 years old, he has said he does not expect his
to be a long papacy. His public appearances have been
largely ceremonial, his statements more spiritual than
programmatic, his appointments mostly renaming
officials from John Paul's papacy.
So the double-barreled announcements on Friday marked
the most significant public day in his reign so far,
looking both forward to the shape of his papacy and
tying up unfinished business around his predecessor that
is likely to be well received among Catholics.
"And now I have a very joyous piece of news for you,"
Benedict said at the Basilica of St. John Lateran
during a meeting with clerics.
He then read a letter, signed May 9, in which he asked
the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints,
Cardinal Jos Saraiva Martins, to waive the usual
five-year waiting period between the time of a person's death
and when the process for beatification, a key step
toward canonization, can begin. Italian The priests, who
embraced the Polish pope as one of their own, cheered.
John Paul had waived that five-year period once: for
Mother Teresa, who died in 1997.
After John Paul II died on April 2 at age 84, an
estimated three million people thronged to Rome in the six
days leading up to his funeral, many holding signs
demanding "Santo subito!" or "Sainthood now!" Some
cardinals took up the cause, and there have been various
reports of possible miracles attributed to John Paul, a
requirement for being proclaimed a saint.
Benedict made the announcement on the anniversary of
the assassination attempt against John Paul II in St.
Peter's Square in 1981. During his 26-year papacy, John
Paul elevated 483 people to sainthood, more than all
his predecessors combined, though the official
canonization process did not begin until the 17th century. The
five-year delay before beatification is intended to
allow a less emotional appraisal of a candidate's life.
Church experts say, at any rate, that it will take
years for John Paul to be canonized because of the
requisite long investigation of his life and the miracles
attributed to him. Only three popes have been canonized
in the last 900 years.
Archbishop Levada said at his news conference that he
assumed he had been chosen for the job based on his
experience working in the Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith. Benedict and Archbishop Levada are
friendly enough that in 1999 Benedict, then a cardinal,
visited San Francisco. The future pope was "happy as a
clam" to be a simple tourist, the archbishop recently
told The San Francisco Chronicle.
"No doubt his choice of me is in part due to my
familiarity with the work of the congregation over the
years," he told reporters on Friday.
"This choice is also a tribute to the church in the
United States," the archbishop said, "and a recognition
of our important contribution to the work of the
universal church."
In 2003, Archbishop Levada issued a broad apology to
sexual abuse victims, in which he cited his own
failures. "I may have unconsciously been uneasy or afraid to
look at the scars caused by sexual abuse so closely,"
he said.
The Survivors Network accused Archbishop Levada on
Friday of failing to remove six priests with the Salesian
order from ministry in a San Francisco parish, even
though all of them are the targets of sexual abuse
lawsuits.
James A. Jenkins, a clinical psychologist in
Kensington, Calif., who was appointed by Archbishop Levada in
2001 to serve on his board reviewing such allegations,
said he quit three years later. He said...